December 29, 2020

GROWING ANTISEMITISM AND ANTI-JEWISH HATRED IN THE NETHERLANDS

The synagogue in the town of Veghel, Netherlands. The community in Veghel was a small mediene community, which reached its height around 1900. In the years following the community shrank to some 30 members, and was eventually completely destroyed during the Holocaust.

PDF version available here This article discusses increasing anti-Jewish hatred in the Netherlands, in particular due to the growing Muslim immigrant population there. Though the Dutch government has been traditionally friendly to Israel and there has been proportionately less antisemitism there compared to in other European countries, shocking slanders appear about Israel in the mainstream Dutch media and there has also been an academic boycott of Israel. In addition, Dutch politicians … [Read more...]

Understanding Real Israeli Politics

barry-rubin

“Can’t anybody here play this game?”  --Casey Stengel, great baseball coach Stengel’s complaint is the precise description of Israeli politics nowadays. To a remarkable extent—and this has nothing to do with his views or policies—Bibi Netanyahu is the only functioning politician in Israel today. No wonder he is prime minister, will finish his current term, and will almost certainly be reelected in 2013. Consider the alternatives. The number one such option is Shaul Mofaz who … [Read more...]

IS THE ISRAEL-PALESTINIAN PEACE PROCESS DEAD?

barry-rubin

  Western governments, experts, and journalists have long assumed that an Israel-Palestinian or comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace agreement ending the conflict was near at hand and easily achieved. In fact, the truth is the exact opposite. Indeed, there has not been any real “peace process” or real chance for a diplomatic solution since the Palestinian leadership rejected a deal in 2000. This article examines the factors that, on one hand, make the “peace process” deceased and, … [Read more...]

TURKISH-ISRAELI RELATIONS IN THE SHADOW OF THE ARAB SPRING

barry-rubin

This article is a short analysis of how Turkey changed under AKP rule so that the regime no longer wished to have an alignment with Israel but, on the contrary, needed to treat Israel as an enemy. In order to understand the initial reasons behind the creation of the Turkish-Israeli alliance, one must also recognize why that alignment came to an end. The cause was not within the partnership itself nor was it due to the 2008/2009 Gaza War or the 2010 flotilla events; rather this resulted from … [Read more...]

NAVIGATING THE NEW MIDDLE EAST? THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION IS LOST AT SEA AND ON THE ROCKS

barry-rubin

This article surveys all aspects of U.S. Middle East policy under the Obama administration, critiques this strategy and premises, and suggests what U.S. policy should be. A previous version of this article was published in The Journal of International Security Affairs (Fall/Winter 2011).   The Obama administration has comprehensively lost its way on Middle East policy to an extent that poses tremendous dangers to the United States, Western interests, and the region as a whole. The … [Read more...]

THE MOUNTING PROBLEM OF TEMPLE DENIAL

Temple Denial is the belief that no Jewish Temple ever existed in Jerusalem. This claim, despite being counter to Islamic tradition, became internalized within Palestinian academic, religious, and political circles following the 1967 Six-Day War. Since the 2000 Camp David Summit, during which Yasir Arafat asserted that the Jewish Temple never existed in Jerusalem, “Temple Denial” has spread with increased virulence in an attempt to deny both Jewish authority and access to the Temple Mount … [Read more...]

ISRAEL AND THE WIKILEAKS CABLES

jonathan-spyer

The U.S. diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks include a considerable number of communications by American diplomats stationed in Israel, and an even larger number dealing with Middle Eastern issues of direct relevance and interest to Jerusalem.  In a few cases, the revelations are of genuine and deep significance, offering a real addition to the understanding of the political and strategic processes in Israel and the broader Middle East.  This article considers the cables directly focusing … [Read more...]

Goldstone’s Gaza Report: Part Two: A Miscarriage of Human Rights

[CLICK HERE TO READ PART I] PART II: WHY? GENEALOGY OF THE “GOLDSTONE REPORT”    In order to understand how the Goldstone Report, with all its pervasive flaws, came into existence, one must first appreciate the culture from which it arose. The pattern is largely as follows: Palestinians create alleged facts or information--often through the formal reports, and finally it makes up most of the Goldstone report, without any real critical evaluation taking place at any … [Read more...]

Goldstone’s Gaza Report: Part One: A Failure of Intelligence

  [CLICK HERE TO READ PART II] INTRODUCTION[1]   In response to the Israeli attack on Gaza, Operation Cast Lead (December 27-January 18, 2009), several major NGOs and public figures called for an investigation. On April 3, 2009, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) appointed a “Fact-Finding Mission.” The mission was made up of four members, including Hina Jilani, Desmond Travers, Christine Chinkin, and at its head, Richard Goldstone, former member of the South … [Read more...]

Art in Israel, 1948-2008: A Partial Panorama

The conjunctional term “Israeli art” indicates a theoretical dependence among art, the state, and the nation.  In fact, Israel’s May 1948 declaration of independence took place in the building that housed the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.  The neutral space of art thus became the legal space of the official birth of the Israeli nation.The foundation of the Bezalel School in Jerusalem in 1906 is considered by Israeli art historians as the beginning of Israeli art.[#1] The … [Read more...]