October 3, 2012 | 2:26 am

October 3, 2012

Posted by Shmuel Rosner

Egyptian soldiers beating a female protester during clashes at Tahrir Square in Cairo, December 2011. (Photo: Reuters)

In-depth

Hunt for Obama’s Middle East Policy Comes Up Empty

Writing for Bloomberg, Jeffrey Goldberg takes Obama to task for his procrastination when it comes to the Middle East. 

Perhaps Obama isn’t quite the brilliant foreign-policy strategist his campaign tells us he is. Of course, he has had his successes. I’m not sure you’re aware of this, but Osama bin Laden is dead ... And, despite Republican assertions to the contrary, he has done far more to stymie Iran’s nuclear ambitions than his predecessor, George W. Bush, ever did. Yet Obama’s record in the Middle East suggests that missed opportunities are becoming a White House specialty.

Amnesty: Egypt must tackle legacy of abuse

The group urges Morsi to hold the military accountable for its crimes after Mubarak's ouster, reports Sarah El Deeb of the Associated Press. 

Two extensive reports released by the London-based human rights group in Cairo on Tuesday detailed cases of rights abuses by the army and police, focusing on six separate incidents of crackdowns on protests that killed at least 120 people. Amnesty said thousands of protesters were injured or maimed — with documented cases of loss of eyesight — during the crackdowns, and that detainees were tortured in custody.

 

Who Is(n’t) a Refugee?

Jerold Auerbach of Algemeiner highlights the contrast between the Palestinians, still classed as refugees, and Jews driven out of the Arab world. 

By 1947 nearly one million Jews living throughout the Arab world, from Algeria to Yemen, were endangered by surging Muslim fury. Within two years 800,000 had fled from their homes to safety in Israel, which absorbed more than 500,000 Jewish refugees from Arab countries, and to Europe and North America. The value of their abandoned property vastly exceeded claimed Palestinian losses. Nobody cared. By now the United Nations has passed more than one hundred resolutions concerning Palestinian refugees, but not one focusing on Jewish refugees.

Daily Digest

• Times of Israel: Bottom line: Why the US must set red lines for Iran
• Haaretz: EU foreign ministers pushing to label all settlement products
• Jerusalem Post: Barak defends contacts with Washington after Likud attack
• Ynet: The new Egyptian terrorist: Young, educated father
• New York Times: Wary of Israel, Iran Is Said to Target Own Aircraft
• Washington Post: War with Iran: More likely from Obama or Romney?
• Wall Street Journal: Israeli CEO of Electric-Car Network Better Place Steps Down

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