By Barry Rubin

Hamas celebrated its first anniversary of power in the Gaza Strip amidst massive misinterpretations regarding the situation there.

Ironically, Hamas’s victory and survival has less to do with Israel than the rotten strategy of Yasir Arafat. He ruled the Palestinian movement for 35 years by establishing a weak, anarchic, corrupt, and factionalized structure which he played like a violin. After Arafat’s death, Fatah paid the price by collapsing in the Gaza Strip, first electorally then militarily. Having proved a failure in government, Fatah then showed itself a failure as an opposition.

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By Phyllis Chesler

I am getting to dread the weekends because then I have even less of an excuse not to read all the newspapers. And that means I have to read the New York Islamic Times. Well, I don’t have to but in order to keep my–and your–disgust fresh this is what I must do.

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By Barry Rubin

Today, journalism students, in our course, "Absolutely Introductory Basic Rules of Journalism,” we will discuss the absolutely introductory basic rules of journalism.

I don’t think I’m an old fogey but in my hazy memories of the good old days I think there was a time when reporters were supposed to represent both sides of the story. I hear some gasps of amazement in the classroom. Yes, it is true. Nowadays we are more enlightened and the process goes something like this:

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By Phyllis Chesler

Just as more and more information becomes seemingly available, we nevertheless seem to know less and less. Today, one has to know as much as a physician in order to make one’s own personal medical decisions. One must possess an advanced degree in history, Middle East Studies, political science, or law, in order to be able to evaluate what newspapers print daily.

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By Phyllis Chesler

Has everyone seen Thomas McCarthy’s universally praised film The Visitor? Or at least read the reviews about it? Having no idea what the film was about, I slipped in yesterday expecting to see a “romantic comic drama” which is how the snapshot review described it.

What I saw instead was a poignant, touching film about illegal immigration in post 9/11 America which, I now understand, has been embraced by almost every film critic.

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By Phyllis Chesler

For years now I have maintained that the hottest and most important war is the war of ideas or rather the propaganda war unleashed by ideologues in both the East and the West. The Arab and Islamist world is canny, strategic, and clever; they are also unbelievably bold liars. (Remember the Al Dura Affaire and the alleged massacre in Jenin). The politically correct West falls for the lies and treats them as sacred political truth.

Here are some recent examples of how the West is actively and foolishly collaborating in Big Lies to its own disadvantage.

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By Steven Shamrak

When I started my weekly Internet editorial letters six years ago, the term “Hasbara,” or pro-Israel propaganda, was dormant. Hasbara has become more visible, but fighting the anti-Semitic and anti-Israel propaganda is only the first step. The main and ultimate goal is to unite Jews and our genuine friends behind the true Zionist inspiration and create a Jewish state on all Jewish ancestral land, Eretz-Israel. Generally speaking, I believe that it is a waste of time to reply to accusations and fabrications of anti-Semitic or anti-Israel bigots, if there is a difference. We must focus on our own goals and actively pursue them.

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By Phyllis Chesler

The British are coming, the British are coming and if I could, so to speak, toss their tea into Boston (or Haifa) Harbor and ignite a revolutionary movement away from their poisonous influence, I would do so in a flash. Why are we ex-colonials still so enamored of the Mother Country? Americans love, love, love all the romantic movies about Queen Elizabeth, Virginia Woolf, and Jane Austen and we love Merchant-Ivory’s classy British celluloid countryside. Interestingly, the writer on their team, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, is a Jew from Czechoslavakia who escaped Hitler, grew up in England, married a Parsi, then lived in India for 20-30 years before moving to New York City. The vision of a stately, settled England attracts all those whom history has unsettled. And oh how we admire England’s savage, bracing wit and perhaps, how well the English language sounds when spoken with a British accent.

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By Andrew Whitehead

On May 23, the Seattle Times carried an article by religion reporter Janet Tu titled: “Does course on Islam give law enforcers wrong idea?”

Some local Muslims are apparently concerned that the program, “The Threat of Islamic Jihadists to the World”, conducted by Miami-based Security Solutions International (SSI), may promote stereotypes and ethnic/religious profiling.

Unsurprisingly, the Washington State chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) must rise to the defense of Islamic terrorists by implying that the program will somehow cause law enforcement officers to respond inappropriately when they come into contact with Muslims.

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By Phyllis Chesler

It only takes one person.

If one person fights with all his might to tell the truth, (and today that person is Philippe Karsenty), if he or she risks everything to expose the Big Lie, takes on The Very Naked Emperor, then, one by one, others also start speaking out.

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By Phyllis Chesler

An Historic Moment

Left to Right: Gilles Dreyfus, the author, and Philippe Karsenty at the author’s home.

The same mainstream media that ran front page photos of the Palestinian boy, Mohammed al-Dura, allegedly being murdered in his father’s arms by Israeli soldiers–are, shamefully, not running any stories about the hard-won Karsenty decision in Paris.

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By Phyllis Chesler

I have had it with the so-called “even handed” reportage that buries the truth in a barrage of lies. What, pray tell, am I talking about? While the online edition of the New York Times has actually covered Phillipe Karsenty’s legal victory, you’d never know it is a victory from reading the piece.

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By Phyllis Chesler

Dear Readers:

It occurs to me that I ought to have a running commentary on the anti-Israel bias in the contemporary New York Times. It is my home town newspaper and I do read it everyday. Sharing rather than silently swallowing my frustration will be an excellent tonic, and good for my blood pressure.

In today’s edition (May 15th), here is how the Gray Lady summarizes what happened in Israel yesterday.

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by Cinnamon Stillwell*

It isn’t often that characters based on the field of Middle East studies show up in current fiction, but the novels of author Daniel Silva are an exception. The last three novels of his series featuring Israeli secret agent/art restorer Gabriel Allon explore the intersection of Middle East studies and international intrigue.

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By Phyllis Chesler

In the former Yugoslavia, men were not usually gang-raped. Many were tortured, and many were genocidally slaughtered. This happened on President Clinton’s watch and it took a long time and a great deal of persuasion before Clinton allowed America to become militarily involved. Europe did not come to the aid of its immediate neighbor. No Arab or Muslim country came to the aid of their Muslim brethren trapped in this treacherous war-zone.

The public and repeated gang-rapes of both girls and women had become a weapon of war and was no longer merely a “spoil of war.”

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