At the annual Herzliya Conference yesterday, former CIA Director R. James Woolsey discussed the nature of the threat emanating from Wahabi Islam. He noted that while Saudis make up only one percent of the world’s Muslims, they finance over 90 percent of the Sunni Islamic institutions in the world. This means that through their oil money they are able to…
Operation Cast Lead caused many people to reassess the viability of the sacrosanct "two-state solution." A growing number of observers have pointed out that Hamas's Iranian-sponsored jihadist regime in Gaza is proof that Israel has no way to ensure that land it transfers to the PLO-Fatah will remain under PLO-Fatah control. This reassessment has also provoked a discussion of the…
According to Aviation Week the US Navy blocked the Israeli Navy from seizing the Cypriot flagged Iranian weapons ship en route to Hamas forces in Gaza. The Aviation Week report claims that the US feared the an Israeli seziure of the ship would endanger US naval forces around Iran. Instead, they asked the Cypriot Navy to seize the ship and…
In his first week and a half in office, US President Barack Obama has proven that he is a man of his word. For instance, he was not bluffing when he said during his campaign that he would make reconstituting America's relations with the Islamic world one of his first priorities in office. Obama's first phone call to a foreign…
President Barack Obama must think very highly of the Fatah terror group. In his first foray into foreign affairs after being sworn into office last week, Obama telephoned Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah and pledged his support for Palestinian statehood. Unfortunately for Obama, Fatah is not particularly interested in statehood. On Monday, Fatah representatives met Hamas representatives in Cairo…
Last week, the IDF issued an unprecedented directive. All Israeli media outlets must obscure the faces of soldiers and commanders who fought in Operation Cast Lead. Henceforth, the identities of all IDF soldiers and officers who participated in the operation against the Hamas terror regime in Gaza are classified information. The IDF acted as it did in an effort to…
It is a fundamental truth that while history always repeats itself, it almost never repeats itself precisely. There is always a measure of newness to events that allows otherwise intelligent people to repeat the mistakes of their forebears without looking completely ridiculous. Given this, it is hard to believe that with the advent of the Obama administration, we are seeing…
On Sunday, Israelis were witness to a cavalcade of European leaders marching to Jerusalem to have their pictures taken with outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi came to Jerusalem from Sharm e-Sheikh, where they had their…
Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's diplomatic spat with outgoing US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been a bonanza for strategic minded gossips. Olmert says that Rice was "embarrassed" because she planned to vote in favor of UN Security Council Resolution 1860, which calls for an immediate cease-fire between IDF forces and Hamas terrorists. But, Olmert brags, he wrecked her…
Today's war between Israel and Hamas is a remarkable case study in how leaders in democracies learn. In a nutshell, it shows that leaders only learn when we, the people, force them. As Israel battles Hamas in Gaza, all Israelis – and first and foremost our leaders – are thinking about the war with Hizbullah in the summer of 2006.…