The Spanish philosopher George Santayana famously said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Western policymakers have repeated history not because they have been ignorant of history, but because paying attention would make it difficult for them to adopt policies that conform with their prejudices. This is the unavoidable conclusion of the lessons not learned from the Islamic revolution…

The United Nations (UN) is often a theater of the absurd, where events take place that represent the exact opposite of reality. So it was with the Palestinians and the G-77 last week. Palestinian Authority Chairman and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) chief Mahmoud Abbas assumed the presidency Tuesday of the largest United Nationa bloc – the Group of 77 plus China —…

From the moment that President Donald Trump entered office two years ago, he has been stripping away his predecessor Barack Obama’s legacy in the Middle East, piece by piece. It hasn’t been easy. It took Trump a year to finally overcome the opposition of the professional bureaucracy at the State Department and the Defense Department, and overrule the opposition of his then-Secretary…

The New York Times has never been a big fan of Israel, or non-assimilated and non-leftist Jews for that matter. But it’s hard to escape the impression that the Times has decided to intensify its hostile stance towards Israel, Israeli Jews, and American Jews who support Israel. These efforts take two forms. First, the Times whitewashes Israel’s enemies. Last month, the paper published a paean to Hezbollah, Iran’s Lebanese terror army, which…

When I was 12 years old, my family took our first trip outside the United States. We came to Israel on a two-week family tour. It was July 1982. The Lebanon War had just begun. In retrospect, it was the first step on what has become my lifelong Zionist journey. I was moved by everything I saw. The IDF soldiers…

The headlines regarding the Israeli government’s decision to move towards early elections in April were a textbook case of fake news. “Netanyahu’s government collapses! Israel heading for early elections,” was the basic gist of most of them. Israel’s last general elections to the national parliament, the Knesset, were held in March 2015. According to Israeli law, elections had to be held…

In a recent conversation with a European ambassador, I asked about the possible consequences of the elections to the European parliament, which are scheduled to take place in May 2019. According to current polls, rightist, pro-Israel parties from a host of EU member nations are projected to win the vote in May. I was curious about the impact the projected…

Tuesday night’s Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah and Iranian targets in the outskirts of Damascus were reportedly the largest Israeli strikes in Syria since September. Israel’s willingness to carry out the attacks, despite deteriorating relations with Russia, indicated that far from constraining Israel’s freedom of operation in Syria, the U.S. pullout may have the effect of empowering Israel to strike more…

President Donald Trump’s sudden announcement Wednesday that he is removing U.S. forces from Syria shocked many. But it shouldn’t have come as a surprise, because the move is consistent with key aspects of Trump’s military and foreign policy. Trump promised to bring the 2,000 U.S. Special Forces home from Syria in April. When his announcement sparked opposition from the Pentagon and from…

On its face, President Donald Trump’s announcement that he is pulling US forces out of Syria seems like an unfriendly act towards Israel. But it isn’t. Trump’s decision to pull US forces out of Syria is of a piece with outgoing US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley’s address on Tuesday to the UN Security Council regarding the Palestinian conflict with Israel.…