It’s June 15, 1992. A news nugget on page A-12 of the Washington Post reports that the chief of Israel’s Air Force believes military action might be necessary to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons: Maj. Gen. Herzl Budinger told… Continue Reading
by Marsha B. Cohen Ehud Barak is retiring from Israeli politics in 2013, after two decades. Or so he says. A career officer in the Israel Defense Force (IDF) before entering politics, Barak’s first mention in the US press appears… Continue Reading
Okay, it seems I spoke too soon. Hamas is now back in the “Iranian-supported” camp according to this editorial in the New York Times, which identifies Hamas as both “backed by Iran” and pathologically “consumed with hatred for Israel.” President Shimon… Continue Reading
The expected verdict in the death of Rachel Corrie, killed under the wheels of an Israeli-modified Caterpillar bulldozer in 2003, came down yesterday and the court found no fault with the Israel Defense Forces. That was no surprise. But the… Continue Reading
The reaction of Israeli political leaders to the news of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 anticipated that the American public, as well as its policymakers, would now be better able to empathize with Israel’s vulnerability to random terrorist attacks against civilians. But a spate of Israeli pronouncements also drew upon a decade of Israeli assertions of Iranian complicity in terrorist attacks, and warnings of an imminent Iranian nuclear threat. A war of civilizations had begun, in which Islamic fundamentalist forces had launched what was just their first strike on September 11. The next might be a nuclear attack by Iran. Continue Reading