At a recent symposium promoting Israeli aid to Africa, the Nigerian ambassador to America reflected on what he had learned in his previous post as ambassador to the Jewish state. The greatest lesson he took from those four years, he said, is that self-confidence is the key to a nation’s success. Africans, he opined, should…
In response to the GOP campaign to paint Democrats as weak on Israel – see the recent advertising campaign from the Republican Jewish Coalition, for example – leading Democrats have been speaking out. Last week, California Rep. Howard Berman responded to the charges with an op-ed in our pages. Yesterday, three leading Democrats – Sen….
Pope Benedict XVI’s address at the University of Regensburg two weeks ago made headlines because of an anti-Islamic passage cited by the pope from a book by the medieval Byzantine emperor Manuel II. However, as more thoughtful commentators have noted, this passage did not stand at the center of the pope’s talk, What did stand…
Reports of an unprecedented meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and a top Saudi Arabian official earlier this month, coupled with Riyadh’s outreach efforts to American Jewish leaders, have rekindled talks of a serious international diplomatic push to revive the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The Saudi push comes as European countries pressure the Bush…
The Saudi diplomatic push comes as European and Arab countries are pressing the Bush administration to jumpstart the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations in the wake of the recent Lebanon war, first and foremost by urging it to accept a Palestinian unity government with Hamas that would not explicitly recognize Israel or renounce violence. But the Bush…
The Olmert government is drawing harsh criticism from American Jewish philanthropists and Israeli officials for failing to coordinate relief efforts in northern Israel during the recent war in Lebanon, leaving the not-for-profit sector to shoulder an unfair share of the responsibility. Many observers compared the situation in Israel to America’s experience with Hurricane Katrina, where…
Just after dusk on a recent evening, days before Rosh Hashanah, the David’s Village residential enclave in Jerusalem showed few signs of life. The spotless pedestrian passageways of the well-guarded complex, just outside the walls of the Old City, were empty of people. Inside most of the 120 or so terraced apartments — primarily owned…
As Senator George Allen’s re-election campaign was engulfed in a firestorm of racial and ethnic gaffes, revelations and accusations, leading Jewish Republican allies attempted to reverse the tide with claims that his Democratic opponent had engaged in “antisemitic” ploys. Allen, a Virginia Republican in a tough race against Democrat James Webb, was scrambling this week…
As Republicans press their campaign to discredit Minnesota lawmaker Keith Ellison over his past ties to the Nation of Islam, some Jewish Democrats are emerging as leading backers of his bid to become the first Muslim member of Congress. “Keith has recognized his past mistakes and renounced his brief association with the Nation of Islam,”…
The anti-government protests that have rocked the Hungarian capital of Budapest for more than a week are raising alarms in the country’s 100,000-member Jewish community. From the outset, the protests, which began September 18, have embraced antisemitic terminology and symbols, including the red and white flag employed by Hungary’s fascists during World War II. The…
Fatah Collapse Middle East commentators of nearly every stripe are warning these days, echoing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, that a collapse of the Hamas-led government could precipitate a broader collapse of Gaza into chaos. Abbas hasn’t gone the next step to say that his own Fatah party is facing a serious crisis, but others…
