Opinion and Analysis

Week ending 16 January 2014

1. Israel’s dilemma: who can be an Israeli?

 Daniel Sokatch and David Myers, LA Times, 14 January 2014

Rights of residence and freedom in personal status issues should be the same for all citizens, whether they are Jewish according to religious law, Jewish only by citizenship or non-Jewish.
 

2. The US needs a deal with Iran, not détente

Ray Takeyh, Washington Post, 13 January 2014
 
The challenge for Washington today is to defy its history and reach a nuclear agreement with Iran while negating the Islamic Republic’s regional ambitions.

3. Why is Hamas courting Iran and the Palestinian Authority?

Khaled Abu Toameh, Gatestone Institute, 13 January 2014

Hamas does not recognize Israel’s right to exist and is vehemently opposed to the current U.S.-sponsored peace talks. Hamas wants unity with the Palestinian Authority … to bring [the peace process] to a halt.  Hamas is desperate for cash and the only two parties that could help rid it of its crisis are Iran and the PA. Abbas told Jordanian parliamentarians during a meeting in his office that 58% of the PA budget goes to the Gaza Strip.
 

4. How to fight academic bigotry

 Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, 10 January 2014
 
The American Studies Association has now made a name for itself by voting to boycott Israeli universities, accusing them of denying academic and human rights to Palestinians.

5. Israel kills fewer innocents than any other nation involved in a conflict
 
Ben-Dror Yemini, i24News, 10 January 2014

In other conflicts it is estimated that between 60 and 90 percent of fatalities are innocents. In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, they are a minority.

6. Creating ‘Independent Arab and Jewish states’
 
Michael Zantovsky, World Affairs Journal, 9 January 2014
 
 
An official recognition of the Jewish character of Israel by the United States would go a long way to make most (though not all) Israelis feel a bit more secure in their identity.

 7. Doing the migrants a disservice
 
David Horovitz, The Times of Israel, 7 January 2014
 
 
Drawing masses of African asylum-seekers to demonstrate in central Tel Aviv or march to Jerusalem is not going to help their cause
 

8. Recognise Israel to achieve peace 

Steve Huntley, Chicago Sun, 6 January 2014
 
 
It’s only when it comes to making peace that Abbas and the Palestinians have a problem admitting that Israel is the Jewish state. The reason is simple: Abbas hasn’t given up the Arab dream of wiping “the Zionist entity” off the map.