Seeing the glass half full - for now

Perspective is everything.  The glass can be half full or half empty.

These unoriginal thoughts came to mind after two significant events in the life of the state of Israel and the Jewish people - the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Israel and the meeting between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

The tendency in the Israeli press was to focus on the negative. The Pope was widely criticized for the things he failed to say or said in an infelicitous way. And the Washington summit meeting was picked apart for the alleged lack of warmth between the leaders and for the pressure points and disagreements.

Read the rest of this post   |  Comments (6)

Gaza goes global

Israel's operation to defend its people from Hamas rockets is having repercussions far beyond Gaza and the besieged cities of Sderot and Ashkelon. It is taking on a global reach and having a global impact, particularly for Jews in much of Western Europe and Latin America.

Assaults against Jews are on the rise. In Europe, Jews have been threatened and beaten on the street and synagogues firebombed. "Jews to the gas chambers" has been chanted at anti-Israel demonstrations in Europe and similar calls for death to Jews have been heard across the Arab and Muslim world.

While much of the violence and anti-Semitic graffiti has spilled over from anti-Israel rallies, where Israel and Jews are routinely likened to Nazis, it is part and parcel of the incitement against Jews and "World Zionism" endorsed by the terrorist leaders of Hamas. 

Read the rest of this post   |  Comments (32)

Playing the 'Nakba' Card

As Israelis watched fireworks, went to barbeques and celebrated Yom Ha'atzmaut, American media coverage of Israel's 60th anniversary was overwhelmingly canned and formulaic. For every veteran of the Haganah featured, there was an accompanying interview with a Palestinian who left his home in Israel in 1948. For every examination of the significance of six decades of Israel's independence, there was a reference to what Palestinians call the "nakba," or catastrophe.

This symmetry, evident in features, articles, op-eds and interviews that appeared over the weeks leading up to the start of the 60th celebrations, may have made self-satisfied editors believe they were demonstrating their impartiality.  In fact, they established a false moral equivalency between the founding of Israel and a Palestinian "catastrophe," feeding into a dangerous misperception of what happened 60 years ago and what must happen today.

Read the rest of this post   |  Comments (28)

Why the US and moderate Arabs need each other

Relating American interests in the larger Middle East to the US role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a necessary and sometimes controversial element of US policy making.

During the Cold War, two predominant models emerged.  Zbignew Brzezinski, President Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor, postulated the concept that protection of key American interests -- limiting Soviet influence and retaining access to Mideast oil -- required achieving as soon as possible a comprehensive solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.  Brzezinski and Carter saw obstacles to American interests in the continuing conflict and saw great advantages for the US in the larger region if the conflict were resolved.

The problems with this approach were many and were so evident to Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, who sought progress toward peace, that he decided to go it alone with Israel, much to the initial dismay of the Carter Administration.  First, it was unreal to expect all the Arabs, including the radicals, to reach peace with Israel.  Second, it put an unreasonable weight on the Israeli-Arab conflict to influence the many other conflicts and challenges in the region. And third, it was a process that would inevitably lead to undue pressure on Israel, the logic being that if this was the key to all America's problems in the region, and if as anyone could see the Arabs weren't ready, then advocates of such an approach would invariably play the mind game of telling themselves "If only Israel would make the appropriate concessions."

Read the rest of this post   |  Comments (10)

President Bush's push for peace

The underlying principle of President Bush's statement on the Israel-Palestinian peace process, probably his most definitive comments since his June 24, 2002 address, is that the conflict is not a zero-sum game. It is rather one that if appropriate steps are taken by both sides, all will benefit. To be pro-Israeli is not to be anti-Palestinian, and to be pro-Palestinian is not to be anti-Israel.

In the course of his statement, the President reiterated a number of fundamental points that are important in achieving peace and in reassuring Israel.

Most important is his clear position that a Palestinian state cannot happen if terrorism continues ("No agreement and no Palestinian state will be born of terror"). The lack of equivocation here should send important signals both to Palestinians and Israelis.

Read the rest of this post   |  Comments (30)