Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen introduced a bill calling for the U.S. to end its financial support for both the Palestinian Authority and the UN if the latter granted it statehood.
Both the United States and Israel use selective memories to justify their actions and find common ground in their expansion narratives.
Knesset Deputy Speaker Danny Danon (Likud) announced that his bill to permit “full Israeli annexation of the West Bank” will be voted on in the Knesset at the end of October.
The Oslo Accords’ significance lay in the cover of global legitimacy they provided Israel while it continued to build settlements and make a two-state solution more and more unlikely.
U.S. democracy promotion efforts in the Middle East have been based on a bizarre notion: that U.S. society can serve as a model for the region. Talk about a tough sell. Congress is a bruising rugby scrum, and the U.S. economy is a shambles. U.S. warplanes and drones target Muslims abroad, and Islamophobia permeates the political discourse at home. Washington has supported Arab dictators and stood by Israel through thick and thin. We’re telling the world about the benefits of fruits and vegetables and then turning around to sell what looks like wormy apples and rotten tomatoes. No wonder that U.S. public diplomacy has largely fallen flat in the Middle East.
The Israeli right believe that anti-price tag patrols delegitimize Israel and enable the deaths of settlers at the hands of Palestinians.
Christian Zionists unfailingly endorse Israel’s wars, despite the damage to the sizable Christian communities in Israel’s opponents.
The bomb-Iran crowd draws sustenance from how weak claims that Iran won’t possess nuclear weapons soon makes disarmament advocates look.
After consolidating its domestic political position with an impressive third straight victory in the 2011 parliamentary elections, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) is poised to cement Turkey’s status as the prime indigenous power in the Middle East. As mass protests rock most of the region, including Israel, Turkey is increasingly holding itself up as an example of economic dynamism and democratic stability.
When it comes to deference to Israel, Capitol Hill just can’t seem to help itself.