By Barry Rubin

A major problem in debating about international issues nowadays is that it is so often hard or even impossible to respect our adversaries. It is quite possible to disagree with someone but to be impressed with their ability in constructing arguments, their grasp of logic and facts, their getting things partly right to the point that it makes you adjust your own thinking. Yet nowadays one is so often confronted with deliberate lies, huge factual errors, and just totally illogical claims.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Phyllis Chesler

I knew that Israel was going into Gaza with “boots on the ground” at least a day before they finally did so. Two Israeli mothers, who do not know one another, each have sons in the elite Golani and Givati Brigades. Both sons had been ordered to turn in their cell phones; there would be no more “haimishe” (comforting, familiar) contact with home.

Another mother in Israel, Bonna Devora Haberman, who is a dear friend, a feminist professor, a religious woman, and the mother of five, emailed me last night. With her permission, I am sharing her words with you. Hers is the voice of a mother in Israel. … (Continue reading…)

Read the rest of this entry »

by Jonathan Schanzer*

In recent years, Campus Watch (CW) analysts have leveled a barrage of criticism against the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) as a bastion of groupthink for scholar-activists peddling a politicized agenda. CW’s current director, Winfield Myers, noted that its “reputation has been shattered by years of politicized scholarship, one-sided teaching, and bullying students.” Jonathan Calt Harris, formerly with CW, called the organization a “hive of academic opposition to America, Israel, and, in the larger sense, rationalism itself.” After years of responding to such criticism with cries of “McCarthyism,” MESA just might be owning up to a few of its failures.

The 2008 MESA conference, held in Washington, DC in November, consisted of 12 sessions over four days with more than 1,500 scholars and professionals in attendance.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Barry Rubin

Israel didn’t want to attack the Gaza Strip from the ground or from the air. Hamas, which had long broken the ceasefire, canceled it altogether. Then it began large-scale attacks on Israel. This is a war of defense. And it is being conducted just 30 miles from here, Israel’s main city.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Phyllis Chesler

For the second time since I began blogging, I’ve decided not to publish a comment, not because the writing is illiterate or filthy with curses, (I’ve jettisoned some of those in the past), but because, like Israel, I’ve decided that “Enough is enough.” I am tired of putting up with the written equivalent of screaming street corner hate speech at my own blog. … (Continue reading…)

Read the rest of this entry »

By Fern Sidman

New York - (Dec 30) - Bellicosity and hubris filled the cold night air in New York City, as hundreds of demonstrators gathered in front of the Israeli Consulate on East 42nd Street and Second Avenue to voice their perspective on the Israeli assault on Hamas terrorist strongholds in Gaza. The Israeli air strikes continue unabated for a fourth straight day, with no clear end in sight as Hamas terrorists and their Palestinian supporters fired long range Kassam rockets into southern Israel. Today, a Kassam rocket hit a kindergarten in the city of Be’er Sheva but the building was vacant at the time. Thus far, six Israelis have been killed by the Hamas rockets; five civilians and one solider.

Story continues below…

Read the rest of this entry »

By Phyllis Chesler

The war against Israel has gone global, not at the United Nations, (that’s old and terrible trouble), but at a new, grassroots level. The goon squad demonstrations against Israel that are taking place on every continent are not composed of peaceful demonstrators. The hate-Israel and hate-America protesters are essentially attackers on the march who are spoiling for a hot verbal and even hotter physical confrontation with their opponents. They mean to empty the streets of anyone with views that differ from their own. … (Continue reading…)

Read the rest of this entry »

By Elie Elhadj*

INTRODUCTION

To set the stage, certain facts need to be stated. First, foodstuffs are an encapsulation of water, virtual water. Generally, 1,000 tons of water (1,000 cubic meters (m3)) are needed to produce a ton of wheat, and 16,000 m3 of water is needed to produce a ton of red meat.^[1] Further, a ton of rice requires 3,400 m3 of water to grow; a slice of bread, 40 liters (kilograms); a cup of tea, 30 liters; an apple, 70 liters; and a glass of beer, 75 liters. It follows that the composition of one’s diet determines the volume of water embedded in the food consumed. The more meat in a diet, especially red meat, the more water an individual consumes. The term virtual water and food will be used in this paper interchangeably.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Andrew L. Jaffee

Just Monday I documented an article by CNN which used the word “terrorist” to describe Hamas. But the news giant then redacted all use of the T-word, re-wrote the story, yet kept the article’s URL the same. This morning, the AP released a story via Yahoo! News entitled, “Israel kills top Hamas figure, escalating campaign,” in which it wrote:

… Israel launched the offensive to crush militants who have been terrorizing southern Israel with rocket fire from Gaza. It began after more than a week of intense Palestinian rocket fire that followed the expiration of a six-month truce. …

Wonder of wonders, the AP seems to be laying the blame for the current conflict at the feet of Hamas. Will the AP hold its ground, or will some editor step in to sanitize the writer’s terminology? I saved the original story to disk plus took a screen-shot of the quote shown above. Stay tuned…

Update 01/02/09: Yahoo! News has redacted the AP story using the word terrorizing, but left the link unchanged. Here’s a screen-shot of the original Yahoo! News story.

USAToday has kept a version of the AP story using the word terrorizing on its website. Good for USAToday.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Barry Rubin*

But why, more than one reporter from highly reputable publications has asked me, is Israel attacking Gaza now? At first, I was astonished: because Hamas cancelled the ceasefire and started massive rocket firings at Israel.

No, they responded, as if I had said something rude. Isn’t it the election, or an attempt to stop the tunnels, or this or that reason?

Absolutely not, I say, it’s like Pearl Harbor, or September 11. If someone announces they are going to go to war with you and then does it, you retaliate and fight.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Phyllis Chesler

FT. LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA (December 30, 2008) — “This is not Gaza, or London, or Paris, or even Detroit. This is downtown Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.”

Tom Trento is describing the intense demonstration against Israel that just took place. He made the video by quietly and bravely circulating among the pro-Palestine demonstrators so that we can easily hear their chants. At red-hot levels of screaming rage, about 200-300 demonstrators, many in kaffiyehs, wearing or holding the Palestinian flag, some wearing “Obama” baseball hats, many women in serious hijab and men in Islamic prayer clothing, chanted “Nuke Israel — there is no Israel,” “Occupation is a Crime,” “Go to Hell, Israel,” and “Free Palestine.” One fully bearded African-American man in Islamic clothing proselytized. He said that Islam is wonderful, that it’s in our very natures, that we had best accept this. … (Continue reading…)

Read the rest of this entry »

by Daniel Pipes*

Two events earlier this month summed up differing views of George W. Bush’s Middle East record.

In one, Bush himself offered a valedictory speech, declaring that “the Middle East in 2008 is a freer, more hopeful, and more promising place than it was in 2001.” In the other, an Iraqi journalist, Muntadar al-Zaidi, expressed disrespect and rejection by hurling shoes at Bush as the U.S. president spoke in Baghdad, yelling at him, “This is a farewell kiss! Dog! Dog!”

Read the rest of this entry »

by Jeffrey Azarva*

On December 31, 2008, the United Nations mandate for Multi-National Force-Iraq, which has authorized the presence of foreign troops in Iraq since 2004, will expire. While troop levels and future U.S.-Iraq cooperation dominate debate, the future of coalition detention operations in Iraq is as important. The reform of detainee operations in Iraq has been one of the most important, and least reported, contributors to the past year’s reduction in violence. Detention facilities, once viewed by military commanders as a strategic backwater,[1] today are viewed as an integral part of the coalition’s successful counterinsurgency strategy. The coalition now uses detention facilities to learn why Iraqis join the insurgency so that the insurgents can be rehabilitated and turned into allies instead of enemies.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Andrew L. Jaffee

CNN is a leader of, and role model for, the very politically-correct “mainstream” media. So I was flabbergasted to read an article posted today entitled, “Barak: Israel in ‘all-out war’ with Hamas,” which didn’t refer to Hamas as “assailants,” “extremists,” “gunmen,” “insurgents,” or “militants,” but actually printed the statement, “Israel continues to strike at Hamas terrorist targets in Gaza…” Initially, I thought to myself, “Does this represent a change in editorial policies — or even attitudes — about terrorism at the media giant?” But I also felt that I should be cautious before jumping to conclusions. I took a screen-shot of the page as well as saved the article to disk. After running some errands, I returned home, turned on my laptop, and reloaded the CNN article in question. Lo and behold, CNN had redacted its original terminology, removing any mention of the word “terrorist” in reference to Hamas, changed the story’s title, but left the URL (link to the page) unchanged. In other words, it pulled a fast one on its readers.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Raymond Ibrahim*

By analyzing what al-Qa’ida preaches to Muslims regarding Islam’s relationship to the non-Muslim world at large, and what it states to the West are its reasons for battling it, this essay seeks to highlight the many disparities behind al-Qa’ida’s words. Juxtaposed in themes, the following excerpts are all derived from Usama bin Ladin’s and Ayman al-Zawahiri’s writings and speeches as found in The Al Qa’ida Reader.^[1]

Is al-Qa’ida waging war on the United States–issuing a fatwa to "kill the Americans and seize their money"^[2] (p. 13)in retaliation to U.S. oppression, or is this animosity founded on something else? Is it mere reciprocity or is it a religion-based ideology? Talking to the West, al-Qa’ida insists it is reciprocal treatment; talking to fellow Muslims it insists that Islam demands this animosity. Consider the following discrepancies:

Read the rest of this entry »