Posted in Syria, tagged Assad, Bashar al-Assad, chemical weapons, Donald Trump, Hezbollah, Iran, Israel, Jim Mattis, Russia, Syria, Syria Strikes, Turkey on April 17, 2018| 1 Comment »
There are no good options left in Syria. The recent chemical attack in Douma and the response by the United States, United Kingdom, and France to that attack highlighted this point. The attack 
by the three Western powers raised many questions. In the United States, we are rightly debating the legality of the use of force in Syria without congressional approval. We are also debating the goals of such action, both what they are and what they should be. Read more at LobeLog
Posted in Anti-Semitism, Bibi Netanyahu, Donald Trump, tagged Anti-Semitism, Ayoub Kara, Barack Obama, Benjamin Netanyahu, Brian Klaas, Donald Trump, Jordan, Russia, Syria, Turkey, Vladimir Putin on August 22, 2017| 1 Comment »
“This is bonkers. Israel’s government says don’t overreact to neo-Nazis in the US because it could hurt relations with Trump. Totally insane.”
So said Dr. Brian Klaas, a Fellow in Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics on Twitter. Klaas has frequently tweeted his criticisms of U.S. President Donald Trump, but has only occasionally commented on Israel, though he clearly has a background in the subject.
Klaas was moved to tweet this comment by the words of Israeli Minister of Communications, Ayoub Kara. Kara told the Jerusalem Post that “We need to condemn antisemitism and any trace of Nazism, and I will do what I can as a minister to stop its spread. But Trump is the best U.S. leader Israel has ever had. His relations with the prime minister of Israel are wonderful, and after enduring the terrible years of Obama, Trump is the unquestioned leader of the free world, and we must not accept anyone harming him.” Read more at LobeLog
Posted in Donald Trump, tagged Donald Trump, Erdogan, Israel, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Turkey on May 24, 2017| Leave a Comment »
I spoke with Eugene Puryear on his show “By Any means Necessary” for about 20 minutes on Trump’s trip, as well as a bit on Turkey. Check it out at this link 
My segment starts at about 17:00 in.
Posted in Donald Trump, Turkey, tagged Donald Trump, Erdogan, ISIS, Kurds, PKK, Syria, Turkey, YPG on May 15, 2017| 1 Comment »
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will shortly meet US President Donald Trump in Washington. The meeting was already going to be an interesting one.
The US-Turkey relationship is complicated, though both countries are members of NATO. Beyond the tension between Turkey and Israel, which complicates matters for Washington, Turkey’s ongoing campaign against any hint of Kurdish self-determination has repeatedly raised issues for the US over the years. Read more at LobeLog
Posted in Bibi Netanyahu, Gaza, Media, tagged Benjamin Netanyahu, CNN, Hamas, Media Bias, Qatar, Salech al-Aruri, Three kidnapped Israelis, Turkey, West Bank on August 22, 2014| 1 Comment »
I explained yesterday how the media was running with a non-story which was being twisted to create the illusion that Israel’s sweep
An IDF photo of the three Israelis murdered in June
through the West Bank in June after the murders of three Israeli youths was justified. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intentionally seized upon that horrific crime in order to strike a blow at Hamas to some extent but mostly at the new Palestinian unity government. The story was based on the words of Salech al-Aruri, Hamas’ lead representative in Turkey, who had been applauding the despicable act since it occurred.
A few other folks have been trying to correct the false story in the mainstream media, but it’s obviously an uphill battle. Few of Netanyahu’s defenders seem to have noticed that Israeli officials have remained thoroughly silent on this story. You’d think, would you not, that if it were what was being portrayed – that there is now “proof” that Hamas was behind the murders all along – Netanyahu would be crowing in the same hubris-filled manner that he did when one of the ceasefires was broken over a battle in a Gaza tunnel near Rafah. Yet the only sound is that of the proverbial crickets chirping. (more…)
Posted in Hamas, Media, tagged al-Qassam Brigades, Bejamin Netanyahu, Gaza, Ha'aretz, Hamas, izz ad-din al-Qassam Brigades, Palestine, Palestinian, Palestinian prisoners, Qawasmeh, Salach al-Aruri, Three kidnapped Israelis, Turkey, West Bank on August 21, 2014| 7 Comments »
In another piece I’ll be publishing later today, I take some time to discuss how the Israeli daily Ha’aretz has been marginalized in
Salech al-Aruri
Israel and no longer represents a “vibrant debate” as it once did. Now I must also take a moment to reflect on what is only the latest example of how their journalistic standards have fallen as well.
Ha’aretz today reports, uncritically, on the widespread story about leading Hamas activist Salach al-Aruri purportedly claiming that Hamas was, in fact, behind the kidnapping and murder of the three young Israelis earlier this year. That incident, you will recall, was the catalyst for a massive Israeli crackdown in the West Bank and eventually led to the horrors in Gaza these past weeks, which are ongoing. The problem is that this is a non-story, wherein al-Aruri said nothing we didn’t already know. Nothing he said should change anything about how we perceive this crime.
There has always been debate over whether the kidnappings were planned by Hamas or done by a rogue unit. The debate hasn’t really been a sensible one; speak to people with knowledge of the politics in Palestine and, in particular, the various armed factions as well as different familial groupings within the political system and resistance movements and you will realize quickly which side of the debate is correct. But such is the state of our media that such people are rarely spoken to, so we live in ignorance. (more…)
Posted in Gaza, tagged Benjamin Netanyahu, ceasefire, Egypt, Gaza, Gaza Under Attack, Hamas, Iron Dome, Israel, John Kerry, Mahmoud Abbas, Operation Cast Lead, Operation Solid Cliff, Palestine, Palestinian Unity Government, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey on August 6, 2014| 1 Comment »
This article originally appeared at LobeLog. 
With a 72-hour truce apparently holding and Israel also apparently having ended its ground operation in Gaza, it seems a fair time to assess where things stand now. Has anyone emerged from this in a better position than it was in before? Is there anything that can, at least in a cynical and Machiavellian sense be called a victory?
Palestine
It goes without saying that the overwhelming majority of the physical destruction was borne by the people of Gaza. At this point, the numbers are just horrifyingly grim. 1,968 dead, of whom 1,626 were civilians. 7,920 wounded, and while there is not a precise percentage of civilians among the wounded, we do know there were 2,111 children and 1,415 women among them.
The already damaged and sole power plant in Gaza was damaged even further, leaving most of the Strip without electricity. The United Nations Development Program estimates between 16 and 18,000 homes were severely damaged or destroyed and over half a million Gazans (out of a population of roughly 1.8 million) have been internally displaced. (more…)
