The President of Israel, Shimon Peres, pushing 90, celebrates his longevity with a birthday bash this week that include thousands of invited guests and hundreds of reporters. It behooves the journalists who cover the Peres birthday event to hold Peres accountable for policies that Peres stands for. In the media, longevity allows for long memories. 1. In 1981, Peres opposed and tried to interfere with Menachem Begin’s 1981 decision to bomb Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi nuclear reactor....
Here is what I wrote in October 2010, when the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood - Muhammad al-Badi - had just given a sermon calling for the overthrow of Egypt’s government (which happened four months later) and a jihad against the United States, a country he considered weak, foolish, and in retreat from the Middle East: [Al-Badi's sermon is] one of those obscure Middle East events of the utmost significance that is ignored by the Western mass media, especially because they happen in...
By: Harold Rhode
The Iranians are the best strategists in the Middle East, better than those in the West, and the reason the Iranians constantly succeed in out-maneuvering the West. In the West, we constantly look for ways not to engage in military conflict; the Iranians are more than willing to offer us those ways. We will almost assuredly give the new president Hasan Rouhani time to "consolidate" his position, thereby granting Iran even more time to develop its nuclear weapons capability. That...
By: IRWIN COTLER
2343 Supporters of Rohani hold a picture of him as they celebrate his victory in Tehran June 15, 2013. Photo: REUTERS/Fars News/Sina Shiri In elections heralded as being neither free nor fair - with the candidates preselected for their loyalty to the supreme leader, and the voters suffering under massive domestic repression - Iranians overwhelmingly elected a “moderate” cleric, Hassan Rohani, as president, an outcome that has been hailed as a harbinger of positive change. It...
Despite sequestration and protracted fiscal constraints, Israel can expect an additional decade of sustained and possibly increased levels of security assistance once its current $30 billion, 10-year military aid package expires in 2018, former US officials here said. Recently launched negotiations to extend aid through 2027 should yield an agreement that exceeds the $3.1 billion Israel now receives in annual Foreign Military Financing (FMF) grant aid, said Stuart Eizenstat, a former...
Sayyed Hassan Rowhani, who adopted the color purple during the election campaign, won an overwhelming victory in the first round of the Iranian presidential election with a majority of over 50 percent, leaving Saeed Jalili (who came in second), his bitter rival during the campaign and the favorite of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and certain other conservatives, far behind. The win for Rowhani, a dyed-in-the-wool member of the revolution, will likely give the Iranian regime medium-term...
The European Parliament (EP) in Strasbourg two resolutions Thursday, each detailing a set of recommendations to protect the rights of journalists to speak and print freely. 21 "The EU, as a community of values, should aspire to lead in ensuring the free word, whether blogged or spoken, and information, whether researched or photographed, are protected. Journalists and a free, pluralist media, are essential for democracies and checks on power. Freedom of speech and freedom after...
Overview For Iran and Hezbollah, the preservation of Bashar Assad's regime is of supreme strategic importance. Syria is Iran's greatest "resistance camp" ally, providing it with a firm foothold in the heart of the Middle East as well as political and military influence. Syria also plays a vital role in Hezbollah's military buildup, helping it to construct offensive and deterrent capabilities against Israel. For Iran and Hezbollah, the fall of the Syrian regime would be a disaster,...
Israel has become increasingly dismayed over U.S. intelligence assessments on the Middle East. Israel's government and intelligence community have determined huge gaps between U.S. assessments and developments in the Middle East. They said Israel's government and intelligence community were under constant pressure by the administration of President Barack Obama to fall in line with U.S. assessments. "The U.S. pressure has been intense and meant to promote the U.S. agenda on such...
The Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip has been directed by Hizbullah on the use of tunnels for missile and rocket fire toward Israel. Palestinian sources said the Hamas military was directed by Hizbullah and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to construct scores of tunnels throughout the Gaza Strip. The sources said the tunnels were being used for the storage of rockets as well as their launch in any war against Israel. "The Israelis have the technology to quickly find any...
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