Gaza flotilla attacks may be a “Kent State moment” that wakes up the American public to Israel’s heavy-handed responses to anything resembling a provocation.
Will the Flotilla Attack Be Our “Kent State” Moment?
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Palestinian Territories
Krauthammer: Gaza Flotilla a Threat to Israel’s Existence
Monitoring Charles Krauthammer on Islam — a dirty job but somebody’s got to do it.
After the Massacre: The Global Impact of the Gaza Flotilla Crisis
When the histories are written, it is certain that Israel’s Flotilla Massacre will be remembered as a key battle in what Richard Falk, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Territory, calls Israel’s “war of legitimacy.” And this battle, Israel has already lost.
Israel: When You Circle the Wagons, Shoot Outward!
Israel seems clearly bent on demonstrating what its opponents have long claimed — that it is a dangerous and illegitimate regime operating beyond the confines of international law and moral principle.
Readers’ Challenge: Was Gaza Flotilla Right to Refuse Gilad Schalit’s Father?
Was Gilad Shalit’s father’s offer disingenuous?
Reader Challenge: Is the Middle-East Peace Process an Artifact of Another Age?
Does the quest for Israel-Palestine pece still accord with U.S. interests? Is it still the key to Middle-East stability?
Reader Challenge: Is Jerusalem ‘crumbling under the weight of its own idealization’?
In a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal last week, Eli Wiesel described Jerusalem as “the world’s Jewish spiritual capital” and “the heart of our heart, the soul of our soul.” The Sheikh Jarrah [Just Jerusalem] activists who, unlike Wiesel, actually live in Jerusalem, say: “We cannot recognize our city in the sentimental abstraction you call by its name.” They describe the city they call home as “crumbling under the weight of its own idealization.” . . . writes Paul Woodward at War in Context…Jerusalem is crumbling under the weight of its own idealization.
Many Palestinian Protestors Already Use Nonviolent Tactics
Israel is escalating its quiet campaign to round up and detain nonviolent Palestinian protesters, from leaders to children, in nighttime raids. And although these protesters remain committed to nonviolence, the world continues to believe the Palestinian struggle is mainly based on violence.
Obama Stumbles on Human Rights
It was a relatively short response to a question in a town hall-style meeting in Florida, yet it said much about President Barack Obama’s lack of concern about human rights in his foreign policy. The question came not from a hostile Republican opponent, but from a young college student who had volunteered on Obama’s campaign. She spoke directly to an issue that has alienated much of Obama’s Democratic base since the president took office: ongoing U.S. support for Israeli and Egyptian human rights abuses. The Israeli and Egyptian governments, both of which have notoriously poor human rights records, are the two largest recipients of U.S. security assistance.
Lessons of the Gaza Freedom March
The latest attempt to highlight the crisis in Gaza captured some media attention. But a failure to balance principle with pragmatism meant that the Gaza Freedom March did not achieve its full potential.