March 20, 2012 | 5:20 am

March 20, 2012

Posted by Shmuel Rosner

Adieu, Hezbollah

Hanin Ghaddar of NOW Lebanon believes Hezbollah’s star is fading, thanks to geopolitical changes in the region, and its support for Assad’s regime in Syria.

There is no good reason why Hezbollah leaders should not be panicking. The winds of change coming from the northern borders are going to turn everything upside down for the Party of God. Its friends are either losing credibility or just moving away from the party of double standards. Meanwhile, the ludicrous stances and hasty behavior of its leaders are costing the party its main support base: the Lebanese Shia community.

Can You Be a Zionist If No One Thinks You Are?

Jay Michaelson of the Daily Beast looks at the definition of Zionism and the association with those who wear the label loudly and proudly.

So, can one be a Zionist if no one thinks you are?  Is it worth reclaiming a label that has been so tarred by association with right-wing nationalism?  I’m not sure.  It’s what I believe, and according to the criteria set up by founding fathers of Zionism, I am indeed a Zionist.

Israelis Grow Confident Strike on Iran’s Nukes Can Work

Writing in Bloomberg, Jeffrey Goldberg reports back on a week of meetings in Israel.

A widely held assumption about a pre-emptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities is that it would spur Iranian citizens—many of whom appear to despise their rulers—to rally around the regime. But Netanyahu, I’m told, believes a successful raid could unclothe the emperor, emboldening Iran’s citizens to overthrow the regime (as they tried to do, unsuccessfully, in 2009).

U.S. War Game Sees Perils of Israeli Strike Against Iran

The US now fears that Israeli military action against Iranian nuclear facilities could drag them into a prolonged conflict, write Mark Mazzetti and Thom Shanker in the New York Times.

The results of the war game were particularly troubling to Gen. James N. Mattis, who commands all American forces in the Middle East, Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia, according to officials who either participated in the Central Command exercise or who were briefed on the results and spoke on condition of anonymity because of its classified nature. When the exercise had concluded earlier this month, according to the officials, General Mattis told aides that an Israeli first strike would be likely to have dire consequences across the region and for United States forces there.

‘Standing Silent’ follows uncovering of sexual abuse in Baltimore’s Orthodox Jewish community

Emily Wax of the Washington Post meets the man who exposed serial abuse in one American Jewish community, and whose story has now been made into a movie.

After the publication of “Today, Steve is 25,” Jacobs says his phone suddenly became the “hotline for victims of molestation in the Orthodox Jewish community.” He was especially shocked to receive half a dozen calls accusing Rabbi Jacob Max, the man who had officiated at his wedding, of molesting women.

Diaspora Divided
Jordan Chandler Hirsch of the Jewish Review of Books takes a critical look at Peter Beinart’s new book, “The Crisis of Zionism”.

Critics of Beinart’s piece rightly complained about its disregard for the security dilemmas facing the Jewish state. They highlighted the fact that in an article charging Israel with responsibility for ending the occupation, Beinart mentioned the threat of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran exactly once. His overall argument inflamed much of the Jewish world, prompting trans-Atlantic hand wringing about the future of the relationship between American Jewry and Israel. It also provided a rallying cry for many young, liberal American Jews—at Columbia University, where I was an undergraduate at the time, as well as at many other universities.

0 Comments — Leave your comment