By Andrew L. Jaffee

It is disconcerting to see how many American manufacturers went from world dominance to fading flowers in the span of 30 years. While there are some niche/boutique manufacturers, and of course powerhouses like Boeing and American Apparel, things look bleak for labor-intensive producers, especially the U.S.’s “Big Three” automakers, General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., and Chrysler LLC, who all now “teeter on collapse.” It is common to hear blame for the Big Three’s woes laid solely at the feet of corporate management, but these companies’ workers have also played a significant role in their near-demise. You would never know that if you only listened to labor’s side of the story — case in point: United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger:

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by Sherry Jones
New York: Beaufort Books, 2008. 432 pp. $25

Reviewed by Robert Spencer*

Muhammad and Aisha, a Love Story

Jones, correspondent for the Bureau of National Affairs news agency, never expected her novel about Aisha, daughter of Abu Bakr, the first caliph, and favorite wife of the prophet of Islam, to become a battleground in the war over free speech between the West and the Muslim world. Rather, as she explained, “I have deliberately and consciously written respectfully about Islam and Mohammed … I envisioned that my book would be a bridge-builder.”[1]

The Jewel of Medina became a cause célèbre when Random House dropped it in August 2008 just before publication, citing fear of threats from Muslims — threats, it bears noting, that had not yet materialized. Subsequently, three Muslims were arrested in London for firebombing the offices of the book’s new British publisher, Gibson Square, which also then dropped the book.[2] It has now been published in the United States by Beaufort Books, which, in a press release, said that it “knows how to look for trouble.”

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by George Saliba
Cambridge: MIT Press, 2007. 315 pp. $40 (£24.95).

Reviewed by Toby E. Huff*

Saliba has been studying Arabic scientific texts for many years, mainly those written by astronomers, and this volume offers his account of astronomical studies in Islamic civilization to the end of the sixteenth century. He argues that Islamic civilization, with no mention of Muslims, Christians, or Jews, hosted a “brilliant scientific production” in astronomy, medicine, and optics into the sixteenth century.

This is, however, a highly problematic and exaggerated story.

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by Michael Rubin*

In its waning days, the Bush administration is setting the stage for establishment of a U.S. Interests Section in Tehran manned by U.S. diplomats. The new administration should let this ill-thought and poorly-timed initiative drop.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

As if there wasn’t enough evidence proving that Jews lived in the Holy Land long before Arab conquerors arrived in the 7th century A.D. … Evidence like the first Jewish temple (ca. 950 B.C.) and the second Jewish temple (ca. 535 B.C.), or the Biblical passages in John 1:49, Book of 1 Samuel, 13:19, Exodus 2:23, or 1 Chronicles 29:23. Today in an article entitled, “Archaeologists report finding oldest Hebrew text,” Reuters reported:

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by Steven Shamrak

Not long ago, a spokesperson for Pope Benedict XVI said that the Pope would not visit Israel until a caption attached to a photo hanging in Yad Vashem of Pope Pius XII, who reigned during the Holocaust era, was removed. The caption states that Pius XII “abstained from signing the Allied declaration condemning the extermination of the Jews” and “maintained his neutral position throughout the war”.

Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, stands by the description and affirms that it has ensured that the presentation of the subject in the Holocaust History Museum at Yad Vashem is based on the best research regarding this topic.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

The violence that Martin Luther King, Jr. abhorred, understood, and then finally took him from us, has stained his great legacy. The Rev. James L. Bevel was a “top lieutenant to Martin Luther King Jr.,” but turned out to be a sexual predator — a fox tending the chickens, as he “was a key architect of the 1963 Children’s Crusade in Birmingham, Ala.” From the AP, Bevel:

… was sentenced Wednesday in a Virginia court to 15 years in prison for incest for having sex with his teenage daughter. …

The prison sentence was the most severe the judge could impose. Sentencing guidelines called for a term of probation and the jury that convicted Bevel recommended the 15-year sentence. …

During the trial, Bevel’s daughter testified that she was repeatedly molested by Bevel beginning when she was just 6 years old, culminating in sexual intercourse in 1993 or 1994 that formed the basis of the incest charge. …

It is a credit to the judge for not holding back on Bevel’s sentence, as taking advantage of children is the worst form of perversion.

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by Colin Shindler
Cambridge University Press, 2008. 400 pp. $23.95

Reviewed by Asaf Romirowsky*, Director of Israel and Middle East affairs for the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia and adjunct scholar at Campus Watch.

Looking Ahead by Looking Back

One of the greatest myths in Middle East studies departments across North America and Europe is that the presence of an Israeli faculty member makes a “balanced” department. In fact, many Israeli academics have built their reputation on scholarship that is critical of Israel and its existence. These academics are frequently given center stage by the Association for Israel Studies, the Middle East Studies Association and Middle East studies centers, which host them and provide visiting appointments. This gives the scholars the visibility they seek, while allowing their hosts to claim balance in presenting an “Israeli viewpoint.”

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By Barry Rubin

In response to a casual question, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates dropped a historical bombshell, an offhand remark telling more about how the Middle East works than 100 books. And a former Marine commander adds an equally big revelation about long-ago events quite relevant for today.

Almost thirty years ago, President Jimmy Carter tried to show what a nice guy he was by pressing the Shah not to crush the revolutionaries. After the monarch fell, National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski met top officials of the new Islamist regime to pledge U.S. friendship to the government controlled by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. At the time, I wrote that by approaching some of the milder radicals, the administration frightened the more militant ones. U.S.-Iran relations must be smashed, they concluded, lest Washington back their rivals. In fact, as we’ll see in a moment, the Carter administration offered to back Khomeini himself.

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Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies Holds National Conference

By Fern Sidman

Our rabbis of blessed memory teach us that “one who saves a life, it is as if he has saved an entire world.” Indeed, speaking out against flagrant injustices and pursuing righteousness at all costs is a precept that is at the core of our deeply held beliefs. Throughout the long and often traumatic history of the Jewish people, there have always been a minuscule cadre who, despite the inherent threat to their livelihoods and even their own lives, managed to summon up the moral strength and fortitude to raise their voices in outrage and indignation in response to the egregious and often heinous actions of our tormentors.

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By Jonathan Spyer*

Deeply embedded in Palestinian nationalism is the notion that Israeli Jewish identity is analogous to that of communities born of European colonialism, which are not seen as having legitimate claim to self-determination. No reconsidering of this characterization took place during the period of the peace process of the 1990s. Hence, the short period of acceptance of the "two-state solution," was a departure by Palestinian nationalism from its more natural stance, and the current trend of return to the "one-state" option is a return to a position more in keeping with the deep view of the conflict held throughout by this trend.

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By Barry Rubin

The return of Russian power in the Middle East, next to Iran’s nuclear weapons’ campaign, is the region’s most important new issue. While far less threatening than the Soviet bloc’s Cold War backing for radical Arab states, this development poses some major problems for U.S. leaders, Israeli interests, and Middle East politics.

Between 1956 and 1990, the Soviet Union bestrode the regional stage like a colossus, the alternative model and sponsor that indirectly inspired, armed, and protected the domination of radical Arab nationalist regimes, groups, and ideas. Moscow’s goals were to win the competition with the United States, extend its influence, and gain access to strategic locations and resources.

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by Daniel Pipes*

After Hitler, the policy of appeasing dictators – ridiculed by Winston Churchill as feeding a crocodile, hoping it will eat one last – appeared to be permanently discredited. Yet the policy has enjoyed some successes and remains a live temptation today in dealing with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Academics have long challenged the facile vilification of appeasement. Already in 1961, A.J.P. Taylor of Oxford justified Neville Chamberlain’s efforts, while Christopher Layne of Texas A&M currently argues that Chamberlain “did the best that he could with the cards he was dealt.” Daniel Treisman, a political scientist at UCLA, finds the common presumption against appeasement to be “far too strong,” while his University of Florida colleague Ralph B.A. Dimuccio calls it “simplistic.”

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By Phyllis Chesler

On September 11, 2001, at about 11 A.M., I walked over to my computer and typed the sentence: “Now, we are all Israelis.”

It always begins with the Jews. Osama Bin Laden called the assault on America “blessed attacks” against the “infidel … the new Christian-Jewish crusade.” He explained that the twin towers had fallen because of American support for Israel.

War — and a new kind of anti-Semitism — had been declared. … (Continue reading…)

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By Barry Rubin

If I had to nominate the funniest cartoon I’ve ever seen, it was a very simple one showing a driver in a car at a “T” junction. He was staring desperately at three signs that read: No Left Turn; No Right Turn; No U-Turn.

The Middle East isn’t quite like that, but the current moment–though surely temporarily–seems somewhat akin to that drawing.

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