Understanding the Middle East

Exclusive: An Islamist Nazi Collaborator is Transformed into a Moderate

By Barry Rubin April 28, 2012

Suppose you read in the Washington Post about a democratic politician who was a refugee from persecution by a dictatorship. Would you be surprised to learn that he was in fact a vicious antisemite, a radical Islamist, and—by the way—a wanted war criminal for his collaboration with the Nazis? In fact, all of the facts about this politician are easily available in the public record. The man in question is Maarouf al-Dawalibi, whose son, Nofal, has now declared himself leader of a Syrian … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Media Coverage of the Middle East, Syria, Understanding the Middle East

Seated Among the Heroes and Watching the Faces of the Martyrs

By Barry Rubin April 25, 2012

As we set out down Ibn Gvirol Street to the Herzliya Gymnasia high school, all the stores were closing. The police cordoned off the street to vehicles and, as on Yom Kippur, hundreds of people strolled down the middle of the pavement. Past the city hall, where a concert was starting up, we walked and then past the small memorial of restless stones that marks the place where Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. That night in November 1995, I’d come home from the peace rally … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Israel, Media Coverage of the Middle East, Understanding the Middle East

Who Gets to be the Caliph?

By Barry Rubin April 19, 2012

Who gets to be the caliph? After all, if you want to have a caliphate , as revolutionary Islamists do with much popular support among Muslims, somebody has to get the job and he has to have his capital somewhere. And that’s why the caliphate issue, beyond the most abstract demagoguery, is a potential suicide machine. Once the issue is raised the battle begins. The caliph would have to be Sunni and thus the Shia would not accept any Sunni caliph. Indeed, while the caliph may be a positive … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Middle East Politics, Understanding the Middle East

Air Flytilla Fails to Take Off

By Ben Scholom April 15, 2012

On April 15, 2012, Pro-Palestinian activists attempted to enter Israel en masse. In doing this, the organizers of the event – which is known by a few names, most notably “Welcome to Palestine” and “Airflotilla 2”– hoped to take fifteen hundred to two thousand activists from Europe and have them collectively fly to Ben Gurion airport to challenge Israel’s ‘isolation” of the Palestinians. Assuming the activists would not be denied entry, the organizers prepared a complete plan … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Israel-Palestinian Issues, Understanding the Middle East

What’s The Proper U.S. Middle East Policy? It’s Simple Though Not Easy

By Barry Rubin April 15, 2012

Since there is so much bad policy on the Middle East to critique and since there’s no hope of the Obama Administration listening to alternative strategies, I usually focus on attacking bad policies rather than on suggesting better ones. There is no great mystery, however, about what a goo U.S. Middle East policy would look like. You can apply this to any article I write as my constructive answer to the messes, crises, and dangers being faced. The United States should take leadership. This … [Read more...]

Filed Under: U.S. Policy on the Middle East, Understanding the Middle East

Solomon’s Wisdom on Revolutionary Islamism and Terrorism

By Barry Rubin April 13, 2012

Hussein Solomon is a South African professor who is the leading expert on revolutionary Islamist terrorism in his own country and Africa generally. He has just finished a book, Global Jihad: The South African Front. Equally interesting, though, is the background to his work. In the book he explains why he is so intent on this subject. Solomon describes how he was affected by an August 1998 terrorist attack on Planet Hollywood in Cape Town in which two people were killed and others injured … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Radical Movements, Regional Security, Understanding the Middle East

The Three Myths that Distort Every Discussion of Israel and the Middle East

By Barry Rubin April 13, 2012

Whatever side you are, or aren’t, on and whether you never think about these issues or are an impassioned activist, there are three fundamental issues about Israel, its enemies, and the Middle East that tie the narrative into knots. Each of these wrong ideas, of course, has a basis in fact. The following points might appear counter-intuitive. But I will demonstrate their accuracy. And you can’t understand events without grasping them. 1. Israel’s existence is jeopardized. There is no … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Israel, Israel-Palestinian Issues, Understanding the Middle East

The Iraqi Model: As Good As it Gets

By Barry Rubin April 9, 2012

Iraq is in a mess. Violence continues. Factionalism leads to endless bickering. Corruption is at high levels. Christians live in fear or flee altogether. Islamism is constantly creeping forward. Yet I would suggest that with all these shortcomings the “Iraqi model” is the best that can be expected for the Middle East. What’s the worst-case scenario? Iran, Afghanistan, Gaza, Sudan, or the permanent civil war situation in Syria, Yemen, and probably Libya. It isn’t that … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Iraq, Regional, Understanding the Middle East

The Moderate U.S. Establishment Position? That the Muslim Brotherhood Might Be Moderate

By Barry Rubin April 9, 2012

640px-Secretary_Clinton_and_Egyptian_Foreign_Minister_Mohamed_Kamel_Amr_Respond_to_Questions

The Washington Post continues to talk relatively sensibly about Middle East developments. And yet its latest editorial also shows the type of contortions necessary to avoid facing the awful truth of the situation in the region. The editorial concludes: Election results notwithstanding, it seems clear that the vast majority of Egyptians as well as Tunisians seek economic progress and respect for human rights, and not a theocracy. Secular citizens and minorities, who make up a large part … [Read more...]

Filed Under: U.S. Policy on the Middle East, Understanding the Middle East

Interview on Israel: An Introduction and Current Middle East Developments

By Barry Rubin April 6, 2012

1.) What makes Israel: An Introduction different from the other introductions to Israel on the market? What makes the book unique? Actually, I don’t think there is a single book that provides a comprehensive explanation of Israel’s land, people, history, society, economy, politics, and culture. What we have had are two types of books: those on the Arab-Israeli conflict, including those by journalists who didn’t know the language or much about the country, on one hand, and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Israel, Middle East Politics, Understanding the Middle East