by Janet Doerflinger*

Flynt Leverett and his wife Hillary Mann Leverett, both former officials of the National Security Council, are prominent advocates for appeasing Iran, a case they make in a steady stream of articles, public appearances, and postings on their website, raceforiran.com. He has a perch at the New America Foundation and teaches at Penn State; she is CEO of SRATEGA, an energy and political risk consulting firm, and is a fellow at Yale’s new Jackson Institute for Global Affairs.

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by Phyllis Chesler

My second study about honor killings was posted this week at Middle East Quarterly. The first study is here. The second study is a groundbreaking examination of 230 victims on five continents.

So far, I’ve been interviewed in the Hindustan Times (!) and the Edmonton Sun about honor killings. And, I was just interviewed by the most excellent Lauren Green on FOX’s “The Strategy Room” about “faith and terrorism.” I was encouraged to position honor killings as a form of domestic, Islamist terrorism. In reality, the same radically Islamist mindset responsible for 9/11 or the Mumbai massacre tends to keep their women in burqas, niquab, or hijab, segregated and subordinate. Such fundamentalists tend to follow radical Islamist mullahs who preach militant jihad and who do not preach against honor related violence, including honor killings. … Continue reading…

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by Daniel Pipes*

When news comes of Muslims engaging in violence, the triad of politicians, law enforcement, and media invariably presumes that the perpetrator suffers from some mental or emotional incapacity. (For a quick listing of examples, see my collection at “Sudden Jihad or ‘Inordinate Stress’ at Ft. Hood?“).

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by Phyllis Chesler

It gets even better.

Remember the French woman who was fined for wearing a face mask (niqab) when she was driving? She turned out to be one of four wives who collectively had twelve children, all of whom were being supported by the French government; their father, the polygamist, was also on the public dole.

Whatta guy. He is 35 years old, sports a beard, keffiyeh, white cap, and black djellaba, and his name is Liès Hebbadj. Formerly Algerian, he became a French citizen in 1999 after marrying a French national. He has also been accused of being a wife abuser and of selling or handing off one of his wives to another man. The charmer has been quoted thusly: … Continue reading…

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By Barry Rubin

When I first heard the story that President Barack Obama was barring from national security documents the use of terms like “Islamism,” “Islamic fundamentalist,” “Islamic radicalism,” or any reference of any connection between Islam and terrorist or revolutionary groups; al-Qaida, Hamas, and Hizballah; Iran’s regime or al-Qaida, I said to myself, oh that’s nothing new. That kind of policy started under Bush.

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by Phyllis Chesler*

To combat the epidemic of honor killings requires understanding what makes these murders unique. They differ from plain and psychopathic homicides, serial killings, crimes of passion, revenge killings, and domestic violence. Their motivation is different and based on codes of morality and behavior that typify some cultures, often reinforced by fundamentalist religious dictates. In 2000, the United Nations estimated that there are 5,000 honor killings every year.[1] That number might be reasonable for Pakistan alone, but worldwide the numbers are much greater. In 2002 and again in 2004, the U.N. brought a resolution to end honor killings and other honor-related crimes. In 2004, at a meeting in The Hague about the rising tide of honor killings in Europe, law enforcement officers from the U.K. announced plans to begin reopening old cases to see if certain murders were, indeed, honor murders.[2] The number of honor killings is routinely underestimated, and most estimates are little more than guesses that vary widely. Definitive or reliable worldwide estimates of honor killing incidence do not exist.

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By Barry Rubin

The question of the day is whether the Israel-Palestinian Authority (PA) indirect talks will make progress in the “peace process” or result in failure. One wonders at this point how many naive people believe that peace is at hand, and how many misled people think that the lack of peace is Israel’s fault.

What is needed to understand the issue is precisely what is not presented by policymakers, academics, and all-too-much of the mass media: The PA neither wants nor is capable of delivering a compromise peace agreement.

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by Efraim Karsh
Yale, 336 pp., $32.50

Reviewed by Daniel Pipes*

Nakba, the Arabic word for “catastrophe,” has entered the English language in reference to the Arab–Israeli conflict. As defined by the anti-Israel website The Electronic Intifada, Nakba means “the expulsion and dispossession of hundreds of thousands [of] Palestinians from their homes and land in 1948.”

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by Phyllis Chesler

The world is watching. Will Brandeis turn out to be another version of the University of California at Irvine, Santa Cruz, and San Francisco, or will it continue to model individual achievement over mob rule, will it defend genuine free and academic speech?

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by Eric Golub*

A conference at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) on April 16, 2010, offered “Critical Perspectives on the Criminalization of Islamic Philanthropy in the War on Terror.” Co-sponsored by the UCLA International Institute, the Critical Race Studies Program, and the UCLA Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law — and including speakers from UCLA’s Center for Near Eastern Studies (CNES) — the conference proffered the usual apologist fare.

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An interview with Dr. Marvin Belsky of HRCARI (Human Rights Coalition Against Radical Islam)

By Fern Sidman

As the exponential growth of radical Islam continues to present an ever increasing danger to the future of Western civilization, there are those concerned individuals hailing from diverse backgrounds, nationalities and religions who are outraged by this pernicious threat and are determined to do something about it. The Human Rights Coalition Against Radical Islam is one such organization. Founded in May of 2009, the HRCARI has held numerous political demonstrations, rallies and seminars aimed at bringing about a collective awareness of the perils of Islamic extremism. I sat down with Dr. Marvin Belsky, one of the founders of HRCARI to hear more about the goals and objectives of this most important group.

FS: Can you tell us about the genesis of HRCARI?

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Center for Immigration Studies on the New Arizona Immigration Law, SB1070

By Mark Krikorian

WASHINGTON (April 29, 2010) — The new law recently signed by the governor of Arizona, SB 1070, makes it a crime to violate some federal immigration statutes. While the law is extremely popular in the state, with 70 percent of Arizona voters approving of it and just 23 percent opposed, it has raised controversy. Below is a brief summary of the relevant information on illegal immigration in Arizona, followed by a short analysis of SB 1070’s major provisions.

Illegal immigration in Arizona:

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A briefing by Steven J. Rosen*

Steven J. Rosen is the director of the Forum’s Washington Project. From 1982-2005, he was a top official in the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Prior to 1982, he taught political science and international relations at the University of Pittsburgh, Brandeis University, and the Australian National University. On 21 April, he addressed the Middle East Forum via conference call on the subject of U.S.-Israel relations.

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