Marc Lynch at Foreign Policy: “Rightly or wrongly, Obama has made the settlement issue a test of his credibility, and if he backs down then all the progress he has made will wash away instantly. That makes this a pivotal…
Great piece on JTA by Gila Orkin of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, saying Jews condemn rightwing parties all the time in the west, and fail to condemn the trend in Israel: The other [Yisrael Beitenu party] campaign…
Howard Schneider has an article on the Washington Post website outlining the history and controversy around Netanyahu’s unprecedented demand that Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state or homeland before negotiations can begin. The issue has been covered more thoroughly…
MJ Rosenberg at TPM: Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu believes that President Obama has already blinked…. There is no other way to interpret Netanyahu’s dismissal of the settlement issue in his interview with RAI TV in Italy. Settlements? “I think that…
Saree Makdisi calls the media to task for its coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and especially Netanyahu’s speech last weekend. From his oped in today’s Los Angeles Times “The language that absolves Israel”: Similarly, Israeli housing units built in the…
Ira Glunts writes: President Obama’s popularity, though never high among Israelis, has tanked following the US administration’s recent confrontation with Prime Minister Netanyahu over settlement expansion. According to a recent poll sponsored by the Jerusalem Post only 6% of Israelis…
Avigdor Lieberman arrived today in the US today for his first visit as Foreign Minister. He is scheduled to cover all the bases over the next two days meeting with Hillary Clinton, National Security Adviser James Jones, Joe Biden and…
Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post dug up a 1979 State Department memo that says that the Israeli settlements violate international law. The legal opinion has never been contradicted, says its author. Kessler got pushback from the Israelis: Israeli Embassy…
The lobby is splitting. J Street is taking the Obama Jews (most of ’em, I bet; but younger and poorer), and AIPAC and the Conference of Presidents are holding the Netanyahu Jews. Older, moneyed, more conservative. Malcolm Hoenlein of the…