Memo to Tom Friedman: Israel is not your “ancestral homeland,” that is a Zionist myth. There was never an exile from Judea. Jews were all over the Roman Empire as converts; and your ancestors were surely among them. And mythical Jewish history doesn’t convey rights to someone born in Minnesota.
The United States’ much ballyhooed conference in Warsaw, the purpose of which was to gather support for more pressure on Iran, is now over. This exercise in futility did not gain the so-called ‘benefits’ that President Donald Trump and his racist, jingoistic cohorts had hoped. Rather, it exposed disagreements between the U.S. and many of its allies, and worsened some of them.
The Times’s Max Fisher writes a long article rationalizing the indifference of Western elites to the Yemeni slaughter by Saudi Arabia by saying that it’s much easier to relate to the death of one person, Jamal Khashoggi. Yes except that the Times had no problem relating to faceless victims when it’s Putin and Assad. Thus is propaganda justified.
Continued threat of a wider war in the Mideast, after a bellicose speech by Benjamin Netanyahu that says Iran “has a “ruthless commitment to murdering Jews.”
There are ominous signs that Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu and the Saudi Crown Prince are pushing for a wider war in the Mideast. In a dangerous escalation, Israel last night attacked an Iranian military base near Syria’s capital, Damascus, using both warplanes and surface-to-surface missiles.
The Mideast could soon explode in a wider war, as Trump, Netanyahu and the Saudi Crown Prince may be targeting Lebanon and, ultimately, Iran.
Israel backed al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in Syria in an effort to weaken Bashar al-Assad and Iran. The effort has failed and now Israel and Saudi Arabia are turning their attention to Lebanon where two mysterious events over the past week indicate that Hezbollah may be in Israel’s sights.
Ahmad Kabariti reports from Gaza on how the unfolding crisis in the Gulf around Qatar could move Hamas closer to Iran, or cripple the group in its power struggle with the Palestinian Authority.
Iran today is not a unified, expansionist juggernaut, but an increasingly corrupt, discredited regime that faces rising opposition. But U.S. policy reflects the Israeli and Saudi claim that Iran is supposedly unified, powerful and expanding, so it must be confronted everywhere.
The abrupt announcement that Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, UAE, Yemen, the Maldive Islands, and the eastern government in divided Libya have broken all economic and political ties with Qatar has given rise to a tsunami of conjecture, wild speculation, and most of all, to wishful thinking and doomsday worries. Richard Falk untangles the threads of the story so far what it could mean for U.S. foreign policy in the region.
When Donald Trump stopped all incoming travelers from seven primarily-Muslim countries, Iran was on the list. Iran retaliated by blocking all Americans from traveling to Iran, including the U.S. wrestling team who were scheduled to compete in the annual wrestling version of the World Cup. When the ban got knocked down stateside, the Iranians relented and the plot thickened when it all came down to the U.S. vs. Iran in the finals. You might think a sports drama like that would be of interest to the media. But NBC, who had rights to cover the event, instead opted for a blackout on it.
Yakov Rabkin travels to Iran where he meets with local Jews. He writes, “One should not idealize the life of Jews in Iran who have had their share of challenges. But their life stands in contrast to a well-oiled campaign to besmirch the history of Jewish-Muslim relations in order to suit a political agenda, the agenda of those who argue that there is no safe place for Jews except Israel.”
Hillary Clinton brought up Israel twice at last night’s debate but Bernie Sanders didn’t take the bait even as he landed on Henry Kissinger. He ought to be telling Americans that she got her job as secretary of state due to her close connections to Israel
Stephen Pampinella, a scholar of int’l relations at SUNY New Paultz, says Bernie Sanders must challenge neoconservative policies in both parties by declaring he will work with Iran to stabilize the Middle East in a “post-hegemonic” world order that relies on international law. Israel lobby won’t like this!
Over the weekend, in a victory for diplomacy, the U.S. lifted sanctions on Iran in place since 2006 as the two countries also completed a prisoner exchange. But no sooner than the plane carrying released prisoners had left the tarmac in Iran, the U.S. Department of Treasury slapped new sanctions on Iran over its ballistic missile testing last fall, breaking the spirit of the agreement with Iran.
Orientalism is alive and well at the New York Times, as the paper tries to explain the Saudi-Iran dispute by citing 7th century theology.
Congress seeks to link Iran with San Bernardino attacks with visa legislation that John Kerry has to apologize for. Iranians talk about the Zionist lobby’s effect; but US media avoid it.
In speech to American Enterprise Institute last night, Benjamin Netanyahu said that Saddam was a “neighborhood bully” who had only “regional” effects, not “wedded to a larger goal.” But in 2002 he testified to Congress that Saddam put “our entire world at risk.”
An ad from a conservative group targeting Colorado Senator Michael Bennet for his vote in favor of Iran Deal features children who are targets of a nuclear strike. Bennet is up in 2016 and won by just two points in 2010.
Iran spends surprisingly little on its military, contrasted with Saudi Arabia and Israel. So why is Teheran demonized?
“Daylight” between the U.S. and Israel over Iran is bound to become a “deeper wedge” over the occupation in coming years as American politicians at last speak up, Rabbi Joseph Berman of Jewish Voice for Peace predicts
The world is witnessing the largest refugee crisis since the horrors of World War II. There are close to 60 million war refugees, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, an all-time high, as people from Syria, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and Yemen are fleeing violence in their countries. Human rights organizations warn the Gulf states, Israel, Iran, and Russia—all of whom have taken zero refugees—along with the US, Canada, and Europe—which have taken few—are not doing enough. Ben Norton presents a guide to the refugee crisis and how every country you need to know about is responding.
The Israel Project produced a video showing an apparent nuclear attack on a city, featuring a man walking his dog. And never promoted it.
Israel’s interest continues to dominate Iran discussion: Washington Senator Patty Murray mentioned Israel more often than the United States in her statement supporting the Iran deal, while J Street’s petition backing Rep. Jerrold Nadler’s support for the deal only mentions Israel.
Federal law bars aid to countries trafficking in technology outside the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. Shouldn’t this bar US aid to Israel? The federal government has a gag order on such information, even as media pressure builds to discuss Israeli nukes