Israeli Soldier Is Killed in Attack by Palestinian

Israeli police officers stood near the body of a Palestinian assailant whom they shot during an attack that wounded at least nine Sunday in Beersheba. Credit Tsafrir Abayov/Associated Press / PIcture from NEW YORK TIMES

NEW YORK TIMES |  ISABEL KERSHNER | OCTOBER 18 2015

JERUSALEM — The wave of deadly attacks that has roiled Israel this month hit the southern desert city of Beersheba on Sunday, where aPalestinian armed with a pistol and a knife grabbed another weapon from a soldier, fatally shot him and wounded at least nine other people, including several police officers, according to the police.

In the confusion as the attack unfolded, a migrant who was apparently mistaken for a second assailant was shot and seriously wounded by an Israeli security guard, then beaten by a mob. He later died of his wounds, according to Israeli news reports. Witnesses who said they knew the man identified him as an Eritrean asylum seeker. The Palestinian assailant was killed at the scene by police officers. After more than two weeks of almost daily attacks, mostly by young Palestinians armed with knives, there had been hope in Israel that Sunday…continue reading

What Happened to South African Democracy

NEW YORK TIMES | KENAN MALIK | SEPTEMBER 21 2015

Driving from the international airport, I was struck by the sheer wretchedness of Cape Flats: the series of black townships, comprising mostly shacks with corrugated steel roofs, that stretch from the highway almost to the horizon. Few people — tourists or locals — want to talk about the Cape Flats. But there is no better starting point for a discussion of the state of contemporary South Africa. I was shocked by the degree to which the predominant emotions, 21 years…continue reading

Fears of Lasting Rift as Obama Battles Pro-Israel Group on Iran

In a speech at American University on Wednesday, President Obama denounced opponents of the Iran deal as “lobbyists.” Credit Stephen Crowley/The New York Times / PICTURE FROM INTERNATIONAL NEW YORK TIMES

NEW YORK TIMES | JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS | AUGUST 7 2015

Ronald Reagan opposed Aipac when he defied Israeli objections over thesale of Awacs reconnaissance planes to Saudi Arabia in 1981. A decade later, George H. W. Bush took on the group during a fight over housing loan guarantees for Israel, saying he was just “one lonely little guy” going up against a thousand lobbyists on Capitol Hill.

But the tone of the current dispute is raising concerns among some of Mr. Obama’s allies who say it is a new low in relations between Aipac and the White House. They say they are worried that, in working to counter Aipac’s tactics and discredit its claims about the nuclear accord with Iran, the president has gone overboard in criticizing the group and like-minded opponents of the deal.

“It’s somewhat dangerous, because there’s a kind of a dog whistle here that some people are going to hear as ‘it’s time to go after people,’ and not just rhetorically,” said David Makovsky, a former Middle East adviser for the…continue reading

Amnesty report says Hamas committed war crimes against Palestinians

MAY 27 2015 : :

CNN

DON MELVIN

Members of Hamas’ military wing, Izzedine al Qassam, parade in southern Gaza in May 2014. / Picture from CNN

During last year’s Gaza conflict, which took place in July and August, Hamas used the chaos to settle scores and carry out “horrific abuses . . . some of which amount to war crimes” against fellow Palestinians, said Philip Luther, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Amnesty International.

‘Brutal campaign’

The report alleges that Hamas forces waged “a brutal campaign…continue reading

It’s Cloudy Over Tehran

MAY 1

2015 : :

INDIAN EXPRESS

PREM SHANKAR JHA

---

 

The euphoria over the Iran nuclear agreement has evaporated. Its most inveterate enemy is Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Shortly after the agreement, he warned the US public that it would threaten Israel’s survival and increase the risk of “a horrific war”. This is a brazen attempt to whip up hysteria on the basis of misinformation.

Netanyahu’s fear mongering on Iran started a while ago. At the UN General Assembly in 2012, he unveiled a large cartoon of a bomb with a red line across it, just below the mouth. This was how close Iran was to making a bomb, he said. Later, the world would learn that the Mossad had told him Iran was very far…continue reading

Air force chief can ‘get job done’ if order comes to hit Iran

APRIL 23

2015 : :

TIMES OF ISRAEL

Amir Eshel, the commander of the Israel Air Force. (Photo credit: Yossi Zeliger / Flash 90) / Picture from Times of Israel

The TV report, which was cleared for broadcast by Israel’s military censors, said that Israel has invested “immense resources” in preparing for a possible strike on Iran. “The Israeli Air Force has been building the capacity to attack Iran for more than a decade,” it said. Speaking of the Russian-made S-300 air defense system, which Moscow has indicated it may supply to Iran, and which Israel has said it also fears could find its way to Syria, Eshel said its deployment would present “a significant challenge” but one that the Israeli air force could meet. “The S-300 is a very sophisticated system,” he said. “It uses long-range missiles with very impressive capabilities. But there is…continue reading

Kenyan police waited hours for plane in Al-Shabaab attack, says commando

---

APRIL 15 2015 : : CNN  Lillian Leposo and Lonzo Cook

---

Mbithi conceded that one of the two aircraft ultimately used to transport the commandos to Garissa left Nairobi at 7:30 a.m. to fly to Mombasa on a scheduled flight, hours after the Garissa terror attack began. That plane picked up the chief’s daughter-in-law and two children, and returned to Nairobi at its scheduled time of 11:39 a.m., Mbithi said. The first aircraft carrying police commandos eventually departed for Garissa at 12:30 p.m., followed by a second aircraft about 10 minutes later, Mbithi said.  After arriving in Garissa by plane, the commando team rehearsed the assault on the university compound for about two-and-a-half hours, the commando source told CNN. The police assault to retake the university compound began around 5 p.m. and lasted about 15 minutes. One commando was killed in the assault. All four Al-Shabaab attackers were killed. Another law enforcement source told CNN that by 7:00 a.m. the Al-Shabaab terrorists had already killed most of the students, saying: “It was never a hostage situation.” …continue reading

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said ‘preparing for war’ in case deal collapses

Fearing military strike if talks break down, Guards reportedly ready to close Strait of Hormuz, where they drilled to attack US forces weeks ago

---

APRIL 4 2015 TIMES OF ISRAEL

---

Iran “will be able to return” its nuclear program to the same level if the other side fails to honor the deal, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Saturday.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani highlighted one of the central areas of disagreement Sunday — the timing and scale of sanctions relief. While the US has made clear that economic sanctions will be lifted in phases, an official Iranian foreign ministry fact sheet provides for the immediate lifting of all sanctions as soon as a final agreement is signed. “During the negotiations, we have always planned for the termination of the economic, financial and banking sanctions and we have never negotiated on their suspension, otherwise, no understanding would be made,” Rouhani said on Sunday. “We will have a difficult path ahead in the stage…continue reading

 

Saudi Arabia’s Ominous Reach Into Yemen

---

MARCH 31 2015 NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL

---

Homes destroyed by Saudi airstrikes in Sana, Yemen. Credit Hani Mohammed/Associated Press / Picture from New York Times

The Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen threatens to turn what has been a civil war between competing branches of Islam into a wider regional struggle involving Iran. It could also destroy any hope of stability in Yemen. Even before the Saudis and their Arab allies started the bombing, Yemen was in severe distress; on Tuesday, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights warned that it is now on the brink of collapse.

Rather than bombing, Saudi Arabia should be using its power and influence to begin diplomatic negotiations, which offer the best hope of a durable solution. Saudi Arabia intervened last week after the Houthis, who are supported by Iran, overthrew Yemen’s Saudi-backed government and…continue reading

Peace for our time

Mr. President, are you absolutely sure you’ve got this right?

---

MARCH 30 2015 TIMES OF ISRAEL DAVID HOROVITZ

---

President Barack Obama in Washington, DC, December 1, 2014 (photo credit: AFP/Mandel Ngan) / Picture from Times of Israel

 

Do you not worry, not even for a moment before you close your eyes at night, that your irritation with that impossibly arrogant prime minister of Israel has skewed your judgment? Can you easily shrug off his warnings that the Iranians are tricking you? Can you dismiss his charge that you could have done better, held firmer, set the bar higher? “One of the failures, I think, of our approach in the past has been to use a lot of strong rhetoric but not follow through with the kinds of both carrots and sticks that might change the calculus of the Iranian regime,” you told this writer when we spoke in Jerusalem in 2008, before you became president. Have you not offered too many carrots, and failed to brandish a terrifying stick? Can you ignore…continue reading