Edward Olshaker Sounding indistinguishable from Noam Chomsky or Rev. Jeremiah Wright, former Sen. Chuck Hagel agreed in an Al Jazeera interview that the United States is “the world‘s bully” and has depicted Israel as a cruel oppressor, yet appears to have little similar concern about the danger of a nuclear-armed Iran. To the contrary, Hagel […]Continue Reading
Israeli forces have attacked a target on the Syrian-Lebanese border overnight, a western diplomat and a security source said on Wednesday, at a time of growing concern in the Jewish state over the fate of Syrian chemical and conventional weapons. The sources, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, had […]Continue Reading
Earlier this month, I flew to Israel to join Senator Rand Paul on a fact-finding tour. It’s his first visit to Israel, my third. Senator Paul is a new member of the powerful Foreign Relations Committee, so he got first class treatment, meeting privately with Prime Minister Netanyahu, the mayor of Jerusalem, and the King […]Continue Reading
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel‘s prime minister says he wants to build a broad governing coalition to face serious security threats to Israel, including Syria‘s chemical weapons and Iran‘s nuclear program. Benjamin Netanyahu told his outgoing Cabinet Sunday that Israel must be ready for any development in the turbulent region. Netanyahu’s ticket won the most seats […]Continue Reading
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Any sign of Syria’s grip on its suspected chemical weapons slipping as it battles an armed uprising could trigger Israeli military strikes, Israel‘s vice premier said on Sunday. Silvan Shalom confirmed a media report that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had last week convened security chiefs to discuss the civil war in nearby […]Continue Reading
Senator to Hagel: I’m ‘Offended’ You Suggested ‘My Support of Israel Is Somehow Contrary to My Constitutional Oath’ In a sharply worded letter to Chuck Hagel, President Obama’s nominee to be the next secretary of defense, Senator David Vitter of Louisiana takes issue with Hagel’s past statement that “The Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of […]Continue Reading
Veterans Today- by Jonas E. Alexis Former neoconservative luminary Francis Fukuyama of Stanford (formerly of Johns Hopkins) compares the neoconservative movement to Leninism. Neoconservatism, according to Fukuyama, is the reincarnation to some extent of both Leninism and Bolshevism. Fukuyama’s observation makes sense when even Irving Kristol, who founded the movement, proudly admitted that the “honor […]Continue Reading
by Jerry Gordon Israel may be surrounded by Islamic fundamentalists on all of its land borders and face threats to its destruction from Iran. Meanwhile, President Obama is upset with Israel and the prospect of a possible rightward shift in next Tuesday’s Knesset elections. According to columnist Jeffrey Goldberg writing in Bloomberg.com, President Obama allegedly […]Continue Reading
Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu narrowly won an election in which disgruntled voters catapulted a new centrist challenger into second place and he now faces the daunting task of building a coalition. Tuesday’s vote crystallized demands for attention to bread-and-butter issues over the ambitions of religiously fired hardliners and largely sidelined foreign policy issues such as […]Continue Reading
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed victory in Israel’s parliamentary election, shrugging off surprise losses to centre-left challengers and vowing on Wednesday to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. However, Tuesday’s vote, which also disappointed religiously inspired hardliners, may deflect the premier’s focus on confronting Tehran and resisting Palestinian demands as Israel’s […]Continue Reading
JERUSALEM (AP) — —WHO IS RUNNING? Polls indicate about a dozen of 32 parties competing in Tuesday’s election have a chance of winning seats in the 120-member parliament. Most parties fall either into the right-wing-religious or center-left camp, and surveys indicate hard-line and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties will command a majority. The three largest parties, according […]Continue Reading
JERUSALEM (AP) — With no viable alternative in sight, incumbent Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears poised to secure a third term in office following Tuesday’s general election. Netanyahu wraps up four years of relatively stable reign, in which he boasts of pushing the Iranian nuclear threat to the top of the international agenda, deterring […]Continue Reading