Tag Archives: Mahmoud Abbas

I find the Jewish Indigeneity Question fascinating.   I recently published an article thanking native American thinker and activist, Ryan Bellerose for advancing the importance of Israel to the Jewish people from an indigenous rights perspective.   Sarah Tuttle-Singer is the New Media editor for the Times of Israel (TOI) and is no fan of Bellerose and …

Quite a chain of events have been crystallising over the past few weeks indeed. For over 3000 years Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people.  And once again in the third Jewish Commonwealth re-established on the very same Jewish homeland, Jerusalem is of course yet again the capital …

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is having a tough time grappling with reality in recent weeks. Ever since President Donald Trump declared Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last month, Abbas continues to lash out and reveal his true colors. In a series of public statements since Trump’s Jerusalem announcement, Abbas has propagated …

Thursday is Balfour Day: Marking 100 years since British Foreign Secretary Lord Walter Balfour wrote a letter on behalf of the British government to Lord Walter Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community, for transmission to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain. “His Majesty’s Government view with favor the …

Hamas is deepening its ties with Iran and its radical Shi’ite axis. Iranian cash is once again expected to fund Gaza’s war preparations and arms build-up program. Before the 2011 outbreak of the war in Syria, Sunni Hamas and Shi’ite Iran were united by their goal to destroy Israel. Iran …

Recent events, both here in Israel and in the larger world, have generated in many of us feelings of distress, turmoil, confusion and anxiety. There is a whole lot that is wrong, or crazy, or frightening going on. But as I sat down to write this post, I was able …

In choosing politics over principle, the NSW branch of the Australian Labor Party has moved further down the treacherous path laid out by Bob Carr and his ilk.  That path is contrary to the interests of peace for the people of the Middle East and to the values of freedom and …

Lies and hatred and murder. Murder motivated by the hatred that was stoked by the inciteful lies. My friends, I ask that you share this posting as broadly as possible. ~~~~~~~~~~ Friday night, Shabbat, Yosef and Tova Salomon were planning to celebrate the birth of a new grandchild. With them …

Intentions may be good, but it’s not always smooth going. ~~~~~~~~~~ Take this situation, for example: Israel has been supplying a solid percentage (over 50%) of the electricity that was being used by the people of Gaza. Some additional electrical power was secured via one generator located in Gaza. And …

It’s a given that the political scene is rarely static.  But the present – both here and in the US – seems particularly fraught with shifts and unpredictability.  The trick is to identify what’s real and what currents flow unseen beneath the surface. Today I want to take a look …

If there is anything that is not muddled right now, it is the news that David Friedman has at long last been confirmed as the new US Ambassador to Israel.  The vote in the Senate on Thursday was 52 – 46, with Democratic Senators Bob Menendez of New Jersey and …

I have thought about how I would write this for over two weeks now. I know it is important to cover the US Elections in terms of what it means for the world and for Israel and the Jewish people, but given that the American public itself is so divided …

Hope for a strengthening of the US, as Hillary may be headed for defeat.  Hope that America may not implode. I’ve had a suspicion for some time that the polls showing her ahead were not accurate, and that many more intended to vote for Trump than the numbers indicated.  But …

Whilst this opinion piece around PM Netanyahu’s speech to the UN was written before the passing of Shimon Peres z”l it would be a gross omission to not acknowledge the life of one of the most important figures of our time.  A man who did so much for Israel and …

“Palestinian officials rejected a recent US proposal for a trilateral peace summit with Israel, a Palestinian official said on Sunday, amid reports that efforts for possible talks hosted by Moscow were pushing forward. Senior PLO official Wasel Abu Yousef told the Jordanian daily al-Ghad that the US had been informed …

Summary: In their eagerness to give Palestinian Arabs self-determination, Europeans have begun to symbolically recognize Palestine as a country.  However, the Europeans have failed to recognize that Palestinian actions are against the law and vision for peace. During the months of October and November 2014, a number of European countries …

There is a scene in the movie, “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”, in which the Sacha Baron Cohen character finds himself deep inside redneck territory in an American country and western lounge bar.  Borat and his band are introduced as being from Kazakhstan. …

 In other words, we keep going, and always will. Let me start today with a light-hearted good news piece, which reflects on Israel’s wonderful side.  (Emphasis is added.) “When Magen David Adom (MDA) paramedic Liat Mizrahi (pictured ) and her team were flagged down by a bystander to tend a …

It needs to be understood that the United States has no intention, whatsoever, of fighting political Islam (or “radical Islam” or “Islamism”) and will likely not do so anytime in the near future. On the contrary, the foremost Islamist force in the world is the country of Iran and the …

It was the 16th of September when Mahmoud Abbas set off the recent troubles in Israel by escalating a national dispute into a religious one with his call to protect the Temple Mount from the Jews who he claimed were “desecrating Al Aqsa with their dirty feet”. On the national/territorial …