By Barry Rubin

There is a constant effort — especially by the anti-Israel left–to portray those who express mainstream  Israeli public opinion and the views of professional analysts as “right-wing” or “Likudnik.” This leads me to wonder what one would have to say to please these people. What would be the equivalent of a “liberal” position for Israel according to them? What kinds of positions would they see as legitimate?

What follows is not meant to exaggerate in any way but is, I believe, a genuine list of what they demand. To please them, I presume one would have to say the following:

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By Gary Gerofsky

The obsession of the EU, the USA, the UN, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Russia and even the Vatican to interfere in Israel’s domestic and foreign policy reminds me of the treatment of a Big Brother who has failed to do right in his past and thinks that he can make amends by forcing little brother to make all the sacrifices that Big Brother never has and never will make to satisfy a guilty conscience.

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by Phyllis Chesler

For years, I have risked scorn, defamation, and even physical menace for telling the truth about the “Palestinian” Lie.

Although the “Palestinians” claim a sacred national identity with roots in the Holy Land, the truth is that no such people or group ever existed historically. (Yes, I know that now, given the enormous propaganda and funding for terrorism that there is, indeed, a group of people who call themselves “Palestinians” and who are viewed as such by the immediate world.)

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By Barry Rubin

In a rare glimpse behind the curtain, a Palestinian scandal sheds a lot of light on the Palestinian Authority, Arab politics, and Western illusions. Palestinian Authority (PA) Minister of Labor Ahmed Majdalani was being interviewed by a radio station when, not realizing that his microphone was on, he referred to Palestinian workers as “brothers of whores.” Hundreds of callers complained. Majdalani’s answer? He claimed he was talking about Israelis, not Palestinians!

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by Mudar Zahran*

Thus far the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has weathered the storm that has swept across the Middle East since the beginning of the year. But the relative calm in Amman is an illusion. The unspoken truth is that the Palestinians, the country’s largest ethnic group, have developed a profound hatred of the regime and view the Hashemites as occupiers of eastern Palestine — intruders rather than legitimate rulers. This, in turn, makes a regime change in Jordan more likely than ever. Such a change, however, would not only be confined to the toppling of yet another Arab despot but would also open the door to the only viable peace solution — and one that has effectively existed for quite some time: a Palestinian state in Jordan.

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A briefing by Bruce Maddy-Weitzman*

Bruce Maddy-Weitzman is Principal Research Fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, Tel Aviv University, and an expert on the Maghreb. He is a frequent contributor to the Middle East Quarterly and has authored three books, the most recent of which is The Return to History: Berber Identity and the Challenge to North African States (2011). Mr. Maddy-Weitzman addressed the Middle East Forum in Philadelphia on November 3, on the implications of the North African upheavals for U.S. and Western national interests.

Mr. Maddy-Weitzman began by describing 2011 as a transformative year but cautioned that the Arab uprisings had produced mixed results, with a final verdict still pending.

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By Gary Gerofsky

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta: Get back to your damn office and do some serious homework! You and your administration have now become the enablers of the worst ideologies that the Middle East has to offer and you are abusing your only reliable ally in the region and throwing Israel under the bus to ingratiate your administration to a dangerous new group of dictators along with the existing miserable bunch.

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By Barry Rubin

Since last February I have predicted that the Muslim Brotherhood would win elections in Egypt. People have thought me very pessimistic. Now the votes are starting to come in and … it’s much worse than I thought. But my prediction that the Brotherhood and the other Islamists would gain a slight majority seems to have been fulfilled and then some. According to most reports the Brotherhood is scoring at just below 40 percent all by itself.

Why worse? For two reasons:

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by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi*

As we approach the end of the first year of what has been called the “Arab Spring,” it is worth examining the nature of Shi’a (Shiite)-Sunni relations in the Middle East. Indeed, commentators such as Patrick Cockburn have been warning that “since the start of the Arab uprisings this year, Shi’a-Sunni hostility has deepened again wherever the two communities seek to live side by side.”

To discuss this issue, a country-by-country survey is useful wherever there are significant Shi’a-Sunni divides in the population.

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By Fern Sidman

On Tuesday evening, November 22nd, close to 100 people gathered at the Kingsway Jewish Center in Brooklyn to hear a powerful presentation of the unique work done by Israel-based Honenu organization. Hosted by the Zionism Museum and Education Center headed by director Stephen L. Epstein, the attendees sat in rapt attention as Shalom Pollack, the assistant director of development for Honenu, delivered both an enlightening and exceptionally informative address on the escalating assault on the legal rights of soldiers and citizens in Israel.

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By Barry Rubin

Assuming that the Muslim Brotherhood and smaller Islamist groups do very well in Egypt’s parliamentary election today, what does it tell us about the modern history and political future of that country? The main cause for the political upheaval in Egypt was the long-term failure of the Arab nationalist regime that governed there, and in much of the Arab world, for well over half a century.

Rulers’ inability to keep promises about what they were going to achieve — pan-Arab union, rapid social and economic progress, genocide against Israel, driving out Western influences — has long been clear. Their corruption, the lack of freedom they offered and the economic hardships they brought have also long been clear.

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by Alan Jacobs*

Few professors in the controversial world of Middle East studies boast more about their own notoriety than Juan Cole, a man who believes the consistent criticism of his public positions to be a sign of distinction. Yale University’s decision not to hire him for an endowed chair five years ago due to insufficient scholarship led him to publicly charge that George W. Bush and the CIA torpedoed his candidacy. When organizations such as Campus Watch publicize Cole’s outlandish commentary, he cries “censorship” and labels them “McCarthyite.”

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by Raymond Ibrahim*

Egypt’s Maspero massacre — where the military killed dozens of Christians protesting the destruction of their churches — dominates October’s persecution headlines. Facts and details concerning the military’s “crimes against humanity” are documented in this report, and include videos of armored-vehicles running over civilians, a catalog of lies and deceitful tactics employed by Egypt’s rulers and state media, and other matters overlooked by the West.

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By Fern Sidman

On Sunday evening November 20th, over 800 ardent supporters of Israel gathered for the Zionist Organization of America’s 114th Justice Louis D. Brandeis Award Dinner at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Manhattan. The star-studded, gala event paid special tributes to TV talk show host Glenn Beck, Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann and US Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R) of Florida.

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by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi*

According to a report by the French daily Le Figaro, Bashar al-Assad is apparently aiming to destabilize Turkey, which has been supporting the predominantly Sunni Islamist leadership of opposition groups to the Syrian regime, by seeking to grant greater autonomy to the Kurdish population that primarily lives in the north and north-east of Syria.

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