From the meeting between US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on May 18, 2009, no wide-ranging agreement was to be expected. To judge from the public news conference, the encounter was a porcupine tango. Netanyahu flew…
Article Author: Ben Efrat, Yacov
Obama for Change, Netanyahu for More of the Same
Barack Obama’s first 100 days as US President show what a far cry he is from his predecessor. The changes Obama has wrought in this short period amount to a major divergence from American policy of the last eight years.…
Israel and Hamas Won, So Who Lost?
The spectacle of tanks back from the battlefield with the blue and white Star of David flapping from their turrets, the faces of the young soldiers, their body language—all leave no doubt concerning Israel’s victory. If we compare this pullback…
The War in Gaza: Egypt to pull the Chestnuts out of the Fire
On the 12th day of war in Gaza, when the consequences already screamed to the heavens—600 Palestinians dead and 3000 wounded, compared to 10 Israelis killed—Defense Minister Ehud Barak claimed as follows: “Today will determine the fate of the operation.…
Israel’s Responsibility for the War in Gaza
A Clarification My article “Israel over Gaza” has aroused, to my surprise, many reactions, including some that disagreed with my placing responsibility exclusively on Israel. In so short a piece, admittedly, it was not possible to present the comprehensive analysis of a…
Israel over Gaza: A Campaign to Perpetuate the Occupation
Israel’s military operation called Molten Lead started on Saturday, December 27, 2008 and took more than 200 lives in its first day, much to the satisfaction of the Israeli public. Already on Friday there were cries of “Go get ’em!”…
“It Can’t Happen Here”: Israel and the Global Financial Crisis
The world’s credit markets are clogged, a situation unprecedented in the capitalist era. And what about Tel Aviv? The captains of Israel’s economy soothe the public: our banks are not “exposed” to the same degree as America’s. But will the…
The Fading of the Two-State Solution
AFTER RETURNING from the Annapolis Conference, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Haaretz (November 28, 2007) that “the State of Israel cannot endure unless a Palestinian state comes into being.” Olmert had made a like pronouncement in December 2003, when he was…
Pakistan Is Not Alone
THE MURDER of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007 has put Pakistan in the spotlight. Here is a nuclear power, located in an area rife with ethnic and national conflicts, bordering India, China, Afghanistan and Iran. While dictator-president Pervez Musharraf does…
Witches’ Brew in Lebanon
WHO won the Lebanon War in 2006? The question is hotly debated—but not so much between Israel and the Arabs as among Arabs themselves, and especially the Lebanese. In Israel the consensus is clear: the Winograd Committee, appointed by PM…