Troubling as America’s apparent declare-diplomatic-victory-and-get-out approach to squandering Iranian sanctions may be, it is making other countries scramble to adjust. And that may prove useful, especially to Israel. Iran and America may have inadvertently done more to advance Mideast peace than all previous peace plans, conferences and initiatives combined. Continue reading
Israeli Politics
Obamacare Follies: Lessons For Israel
An administration which so easily lies to its own citizens to achieve domestic political ends cannot be trusted to act faithfully towards the citizens of other countries. Continue reading
Incitement Excitement–and the Bigger Underlying Problem
Focusing on incitement misses a more subtle, yet more fundamental part of the equation: the absence of contrary, counter-incitement Arab and Palestinian voices. Where is the Palestinian Peace Now? The Arab Voice for Peace? P-Street? The Palestinian movement to boycott and divest from Palestinian entities until terror and violence against Israelis is ended? Continue reading
Abe on the John Batchelor Show discussing Abe’s Daily Beast column on Israel’s motivation for freeing terror prisoners, August 8, 2013
John interviewed Abe about Israel’s motivation for freeing terror prisoners, August 8, 2013.
Why Did Netanyahu Release Palestinian Prisoners?
Israelis may be masters of intelligence. They may be military geniuses. But they are inept when it comes to visionary diplomatic moves—especially those whose success hinges on the misplaced belief in the good faith of others.
This column was originally published in The Daily Beast.
Here is Abe’s interview on the John Batchelor Show on this topic.
What Everyone “Knows”–Solving The Israeli-Palestinian Dispute
This column was originally published in American Thinker.
Preview: Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines, absent major changes, is arguably the single most counterproductive act imaginable for long-lasting peace. There is no greater obstacle to peace than the perpetual temptation to launch another war against Israel from such lopsided lines.
An entire country, nine miles wide? A bicycle could easily cross it in 30 minutes — and a rocket in a matter of seconds. Nine miles is less than the distance from Barack Obama’s Chicago home to Wrigley Field. It’s the distance from New York’s George Washington Bridge to the Holland Tunnel. It’s 1½ times around the Central Park loop.
—————————————————————————————————————————————
Abe interviewed on the Andrea Tantaros Show May 6, 2013
Stop Blaming Israel And America For Fayyad’s Fall
This column was originally published in The Daily Beast.
Popular as he was in international aid circles and New York Times (and Daily Beast) op-eds—and even among Israelis—Fayyad had no democratic Palestinian constituency to speak of. As Archie Bunker once said of then-President Gerald Ford, “He’s doing a great job for a guy nobody voted for.”
Who lost Salam Fayyad? The resignation-dismissal of the respected Palestinian Prime Minister has provoked plenty of finger-pointing. Continue reading
The Israeli Election Winner is… William F. Buckley!
This column was originally published in The American Thinker.
“There is a future” (Yesh Atid) is not a bad name for this party with no past: every one of the newly elected MKs is new to national politics. Israel has taken a step toward citizen government.
Explaining Israeli election results to an American audience is always a challenge. But this time, that challenge is compounded by having to explain the explanations. Even by famously contentious Israeli standards, interpretations of the results are all over the map. Continue reading
From Under the Bus: A Response to Efraim Halevy and the NYTimes
This column was originally published in The Times of Israel
Although President Obama has his own record — and what a record it is — regarding Israel, Halvey has nary a word to say about it. Furthermore, Governor Mitt Romney has a sterling record of support for Israel, and a staunchly pro-Israel foreign policy team; yet Halevy deems this unworthy of comment. What kind of analysis of the election ignores entirely any analysis of the actual candidates or their records?
Efraim Halevy, the former director of Israel’s Mossad, has penned a most peculiar column published in The New York Times. Halevy maintains that “no Democratic president has ever strong-armed Israel on any key national security issue,” and that Republican presidents were the ones who have thrown Israel “under the bus.”
Halevy used to be a serious man. But his unserious analysis is as incomplete as it is irrelevant. In fact, it amounts to historical malpractice. Continue reading
Another country heard from: Abe Katsman weighs in 