There has been a lot of talk about the need for the Obama administration to engage on Israeli-Palestinian issues early and often, unlike the Bush administration. This can be a productive approach, particularly in light of the split in the Palestinian camp, as long as expectations are not raised too high. The primary purpose of such engagement should be to stabilize the situation and set the stage for an ultimate resolution of the conflict via a two-state solution.Read More
Relations between Israel and American Jews, by now an old and recurring subject for discussion, have come to the surface again, this time on the editorial page of the Forward (“The Third Front,” August 4). Writing about the conflict in Lebanon, the Forward calls for a greater role for American Jews in Israeli decision-making because what Israel does has significant, and often negative, consequences for American Jews.Read More
Shortly after the immediate and strong international reaction to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s comment that Israel should be “wiped off the map,” his foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, indicated that this position was nothing new: The Islamic regime had always viewed Israel that way, ever since the Khomeini revolution inRead More
In an opinion article in the February 5 issue of The New York Times, the national editor of the Forward argues that “it is time Jews recognize that the old strategies no longer work…. Jewish organizations and advocates of Israel fail to grasp that they are no longer viewed as the voice of the disenfranchised. Rather, they are seen as aRead More
As Israel’s 56th Independence Day approaches, stock-taking easily produces negatives. Continuing suicide bombs, unbridled hatred of Israel and Jews throughout much of the Arab world, international condemnation of the Jewish state, and unresolved economic and social issues do not make for a gala celebration.This year, while we give thanks for theRead More