At the start of President Barack Obama’s presidency, he announced a “pivot towards Asia” after years of American military and political resources being bogged down in the Middle East. Obama’s speech Tuesday at the United Nations General Assembly shows how clearly the pendulum has swung back. Although he referred to Iran, Syria Israel, and Palestine…
“… whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.” —U.S. Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 It’s funny how watching the news can take you to new places and remind you how alike we are under the skin. Take this…
An Israeli lawmaker on Monday submitted a highly controversial proposal that would make Judaism superior to democracy in the State of Israel, amending a previous bill that was tossed by the Knesset before the last general election. Coalition Chairman MK Yariv Levin (Likud) presented his formulation for a new Israeli basic law, one that obligates…
Two years ago, as the fragile beginnings of free expression swept through the Arab world, Arab media was compelled to reinvent itself. Messages sent through Twitter and other social media, videos uploaded to YouTube, blogs and photographs produced by “citizen journalists” — all served to bring energy and populist force to the uprisings and challenged…
Palestinians voted in local elections in the Israel-occupied West Bank on Saturday, their first vote for six years and one with little choice, out of step with democratic revolutions elsewhere in the Arab world. The results were expected to largely reaffirm the Western-backed, mainly secular Fatah party, which runs a de facto government in the…
Israel’s Justice Minister, Yaacov Neeman, has floated a proposal for what is known in Israel as a “Basic Law” that would streamline and codify the legislative process of the Israeli government. If it passes, by Independence Day next year Israeli kindergarteners will be chanting “How a Bill becomes a Law” — in Hebrew. Along with…
In late January, the Israel Democracy Institute’s Guttman Center for Surveys, along with the Avi Chai Foundation, released the results of a comprehensive survey on the religious beliefs of Israeli Jews. Among other interesting findings, it showed that some 80% of the Jewish population in Israel believes in God — which, perhaps, is good news….
Advocates of democracy in the Middle East have been deeply alarmed since December 29, when Egyptian security forces staged lightning raids on the offices of three American nonprofits that work to promote democracy and fair elections overseas. Egyptian officials say they seized the organizations’ books and computers because they suspect them of fomenting the unrest…
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