December 30, 2012 | 1:38 am

December 30, 2012

Posted by Shmuel Rosner

President Barack Obama addressing the annual AIPAC conference in Washington D.C., March 2012. (Photo: Reuters)

In-depth

Actions, Not Words

The Obama administration needs to take a tougher stance with Middle Eastern rulers, writes Dov S. Zakheim in the National Interest. 

Apart from threatening action if Assad uses chemical weapons, as well as reportedly some training of opposition fighters outside Syria, Washington has not provided what the opposition has long sought: the arms it needs to fight off Assad’s thuggish supporters and his regular army. The rebels are managing to do so anyway; even Farouk al Sharaa, the long-time Assad lackey who now serves as vice president, has all but admitted that the regime’s days finally are numbered. But Washington can expect little by way of thanks from whoever comes to power in Damascus, nor does it deserve any.

What It Means To Be “Pro-Israel”

Writing for the Daily Beast's Open Zion section, Brent E. Sasley argues that the nature of Israel advocacy in the American Jewish community has changed. 

...mainstream U.S. Jewish groups are facing pressure from both the right-wing government in Israel (which may become even more rightist after the January election) and the right-wing groups and individuals in the U.S., who run on a single issue and are less concerned with developing ties and ideas across the political spectrum. Left-wing groups like J Street are also beginning to pose a challenge—though, because most leftist Jewish groups are either anti- or non-Zionist, the centrist organizations can more easily fend them off or ignore them.

Daily Digest

• Times of Israel: High Court overturns decision barring Arab MK Zoabi from running for Knesset
• Haaretz: Think tank: Israel's poor international image not the fault of failed hasbara
• Jerusalem Post: Avigdor Liberman indicted for fraud, breach of trust
• Ynet: Iran's Navy simulates enemy invasion
• New York Times: Russia Says Insisting On Assad’s Exit Will Cost More Lives
• Washington Post: A package deal on Iran and Syria
• Wall Street Journal: Martin Amis: Islam and the Limits of Permissible Thought

Follow Shmuel Rosner on Twitter and Facebook for facts and figures, analysis and opinion on Israel and the U.S., the Jewish World and the Middle East

0 Comments — Leave your comment