Opinion and Analysis

Week ending 4 June 2014

1. A Palestinian alliance that undermines peace with Israel

Armstrong Williams, The Washington Times, 1 June 2014

Right next door to one of America’s closest allies, the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas recently announced his intention to join forces with Hamas.  Hamas is a terrorist organization that celebrates jihad, revels in the murder of innocents and promotes the destruction of the state of Israel.
Both the scarcity of deep coverage of this story, and the muted outcry against this outrageous development, are telling.

2. False charges of apartheid

Roger Cohen, The New York Times International Weekly

I knew apartheid in South Africa. I saw how its implacable persecution was codified and applied. Israel’s oppression of the Palestinians does not constitute apartheid reborn in the Holy Land, whatever the echoes of it in the West Bank.

3. Palestinians: BDS activists are troublemakers and criminals

Khaled Abut Toameh, Gatestone Institute, 30 May 2014

The Palestinian Authority’s move against the BDS activists shows that it considers the movement a threat to Palestinian interests.  A Palestinian Authority official in Ramallah explained that BDS and its followers make the Palestinians appear as if they are all radicals who are only interested in boycotting and delegitimizing Israel. “No, we do not support the boycott of Israel.” — Mahmoud Abbas, President, Palestinian Authority.

4. How the Pope triumphed over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Haviv Rettig Gur, The Times of Israel, 29 May 2014

Francis’ unorthodox ideology saved him from traps that have ensnared other world leaders, and helped him score a victory for the Catholic Church

5. Iran benefits from creative Arab chaos

Michael Young, Daily Star (Lebanon), 29 May 2014

Iran has a finger in several Arab pies. Tehran’s influence over Iraq and its government is said to be significant. In Lebanon, the ties with Hezbollah have given it a major role in deciding the fate of the country. In the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Iran has re-established ties with a financially strapped Hamas. And in Syria, Tehran has greatly expanded its authority, having played an essential part in bolstering Assad’s regime.

6. Palestinian reconciliation: devil in the details?

Matthew Levitt and Neri Zilber, Washington Institute, 28 May 2014

How – and if – Hamas and Fatah overcome formidable security, institutional, and political roadblocks should dictate the international response to their unity deal and joint government.

7. Living with Iran: Israel’s strategic imperative

Professor Louis R Beres and General John Chain, BESA, 27 May 2014

In response to the almost inevitable Iranian nuclear bomb, Israel must suitably integrate a clear nuclear deterrence posture with multi-layered active defences. This complex effort should include relevant cyber-defences, emergent space technologies, and certain core modifications of Israel’s deliberate nuclear ambiguity. All regional enemies should already understand that Israel is a nuclear power, but taking the bomb out of the “basement” could help Jerusalem dispel any still-lingering doubts about the country’s available nuclear capacity and resolve. Iran must never be allowed to believe that Israel’s strategic forces are somehow too vulnerable to first-strike attack, or too destructive for operational military use.