USA

How has U.S. policy toward Hamas and the Gaza Strip turned around 360 degrees?

By Barry Rubin HERZLIYA, Israel — A reader asks what I meant when I wrote: “Should I mention the total reversal of U.S. policy on Hamas from trying to undermine that radical Islamist group’s rule in the Gaza Strip to believing Hamas will fall if Gaza becomes prosperous?” Here’s my answer: From the time Hamas […]

How has U.S. policy toward Hamas and the Gaza Strip turned around 360 degrees? Read More »

Middle East, USA

Obama orders additional screening of cargo in wake of terrorist package bomb threat

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)– President Barack Obama made the following statement on Friday, Oct. 29, about packages with explosives overseas terrorists are believed to be mailing to the United States: THE PRESIDENT:  Good afternoon, everybody.  I want to briefly update the American people on a credible terrorist threat against our country, and the actions that

Obama orders additional screening of cargo in wake of terrorist package bomb threat Read More »

USA

ADL issues warning about suspicious packages sent to Jewish institutions

By Heather FrankSAN DIEGO — As news reports are indicating, and as ADL has learned from law enforcement sources, there is a reported threat to US Jewish institutions from packages mailed from overseas, particularly Great Britain, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.  We are urging US Jewish communal institutions to increase mailroom security by ensuring that all packages

ADL issues warning about suspicious packages sent to Jewish institutions Read More »

USA

U.S. media’s Middle East reporting is naive. Ya think?

By Barry Rubin HERZLIYA, Israel –If you’ve lost faith in the current administration’s ability and mass media’s ability to respond to Middle East developments, here’s more evidence. There’s a relatively new American idiomatic expression, “Ya [you] think?” Said sarcastically, it means: Wow, duh, the answer to that question is really obvious! So consider how hidden,

U.S. media’s Middle East reporting is naive. Ya think? Read More »

Middle East, USA

NJDC denounces House Republican leader for campaigning with ‘Nazi reenactor’

WASHINGTON, DC  (Press Release)- Wednesday evening it was announced on disgraced House candidate Rich Iott’s website that House Republican Leader John Boehner — the self-described House Speaker hopeful — would campaign with Nazi reenactor Rich Iott this Saturday. National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) President and CEO David A. Harris issued the following statement in response

NJDC denounces House Republican leader for campaigning with ‘Nazi reenactor’ Read More »

USA

Feinstein lauds energy-label requirement for television sets

WASHINGTON, DC (Press Release) – The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday announced that starting May 10, 2011, manufacturers must display EnergyGuide labels on television sets, offering consumers information about how much energy different models use. The new rule comes in the wake of a December 2009 letter to FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz sent by U.S. Senator

Feinstein lauds energy-label requirement for television sets Read More »

USA

Password-protected website created for campus advocates for Israel

LOS ANGELES (Press Release) — StandWithUs launched a password-protected website  Wednesday, Oct. 27 to help students pro-actively counter divestment campaigns on campus.     Campus divestment resolutions are the latest tool of anti-Israel activists who want to isolate and demonize Israel.   StandWithUs developed the website with students who fought divestment resolutions at UC Berkeley and UC

Password-protected website created for campus advocates for Israel Read More »

USA

Lighter side: Austria, Cuba and other ‘Middle Eastern’ players

By Barry Rubin HERZLIYA, Israel — What could be more routine than those little notes countries send other countries to say Happy Birthday? Yet even here there’s a sort of strangeness about the current U.S. government’s approach to the Middle East . On October 25, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sent national day greetings to

Lighter side: Austria, Cuba and other ‘Middle Eastern’ players Read More »

International, Middle East, USA

Education Department rules threats, hostile acts toward Jews are Civil Rights violations

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release) — Congressman Brad Sherman applauded Secretary of Education Arne Duncan for agreeing to return to its 2004 policy and applying Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to the protection of Jewish students from anti-Semitism on campuses. “For two years, I have been pushing the U.S. Department of Education to adopt this

Education Department rules threats, hostile acts toward Jews are Civil Rights violations Read More »

USA

Pennsylvania legislators protest anti-Israel speech of Lincoln U. prof

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (WJC)– Two state lawmakers have sent a letter of complaint to the head of Lincoln University in Oxford, Pennsylvania, about a literature professor who made strong anti-Israel statements at a rally in Washington, DC in September. Professor Kaukab Siddique, 67, had said: “We must stand united to defeat, to destroy, to dismantle Israel,

Pennsylvania legislators protest anti-Israel speech of Lincoln U. prof Read More »

USA

U.S. sponsors speech by Iranian apologist in Saudi Arabia

By Barry Rubin HERZLIYA, Israel (Press Release)– There are days when you think: No, this nightmare can’t be real! Is the Obama Administration really so bad? Have the policymakers really taken leave of their senses? And then you see this: The U.S. Consulate-General in Saudi Arabia “hosted Dr. Trita Parsi, founder and President of the

U.S. sponsors speech by Iranian apologist in Saudi Arabia Read More »

Middle East, USA

JWV urges Dec. 17 be made an evening for a special Kaddish

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)– Steve Zeitz, national commander of the Jewish War Veterans, has called on synagogues to set aside the evening of Friday, Dec. 17, as a Shabbat for commemorating losses of Jewish and Allied lives in World War II. He issued the following statement: “The JWV is requesting that special memorial prayers be recited

JWV urges Dec. 17 be made an evening for a special Kaddish Read More »

USA