June 1, 2012 | 5:09 am

June 1, 2012

Posted by Shmuel Rosner

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House, December 2011. (Photo: Courtesy of the White House)

Obama Order Sped Up Wave of ‎Cyberattacks Against Iran

David E. Sanger of the New York Times speaks to former Israeli, American and ‎European security officials to get a clear picture of the series of cyber strikes on ‎Iran’s nuclear program.
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The unusually tight [American] collaboration with Israel was driven by two ‎imperatives. Israel’s Unit 8200, a part of its military, had technical expertise that ‎rivaled the N.S.A.’s, and the Israelis had deep intelligence about operations at ‎Natanz that would be vital to making the cyberattack a success. But American ‎officials had another interest, to dissuade the Israelis from carrying out their own ‎pre-emptive strike against the Iranian nuclear facilities. To do that, the Israelis ‎would have to be convinced that the new line of attack was working. The only way ‎to convince them, several officials said in interviews, was to have them deeply ‎involved in every aspect of the program.‎

Syria Is Not a Problem from Hell

Writing in Foreign Policy, Anne-Marie Slaughter offers a solution to the worsening ‎bloodshed in Syria, before it is too late. ‎

What is still missing is a plan. It is time to stand neither for the Syrian opposition nor ‎against the Syrian government but against killing by either side. To tell any Syrian local ‎officials willing to stand against killing—whether a Local Coordinating Committee or ‎simply a municipal government—that they will receive weapons and air support against ‎tanks, support that will be withdrawn if killing begins or continues, by anyone. All citizens ‎of such towns should be instructed to photograph violence by anyone against anyone and ‎upload it to a central website maintained by the U.N. or by the Friends of Syria, so that ‎they become peace monitors.‎

Turkey, Israel: Potential for a Fresh Start?‎

Economic ties between Israel and Turkey were unharmed by the diplomatic downturn of recent years ‎and could be key to rebuilding other aspects of the relationship, write Soner Cagaptay and Tyler Evans for ‎the Washington Institute. ‎

‎[T]he diplomatic crisis has not translated into an economic crisis. Take for instance, a boycott ‎announced by several Israeli grocery chains in the wake of the flotilla incident. Despite the assertions ‎on the part of these retailers, Turkish export of vegetable products has remained steady since 2007, ‎and exports of prepared foodstuffs, beverages and tobacco doubled between 2007 and 2011. From ‎‎2010 to 2011, trade increased by 30.7%, far surpassing the growth that occurred during the heyday of ‎Turkish-Israeli ties.‎

The Ten Commandments of America’s Jews

Writing in Commentary Magazine, Jack Wertheimer presents a modern code he ‎believes American Jews should live by.‎

Presenting Jewish life positively and without fear, it dismisses talk of Israel’s vulnerability ‎or of threats to Jewish survival in the United States. The impulse to share Jewish folkways ‎with the world at large, and to discuss in public and without inhibition the most intimate ‎aspects of current Jewish life, reflects a strong sense of security and “at-homeness.” If ‎anything, the greater dangers are seen as parochialism, the failure or refusal to credit the ‎intertwining of Jewish and Gentile lives, and the consequent impulse to isolate Jews from ‎their business associates, their friends, and, in a growing number of cases, their family ‎members.‎

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