This week, Israel's far-right government acceded to its ultra-Orthodox coalition partners and torpedoed a compromise years in the making, which had been intended to offer Israeli women a means of worshipping at the Western Wall in an egalitarian manner. Women of the Wall have long protested the segregation and second-class status of women who choose to pray … [Read more...]
Al Jazeera: Jordan, Not Israel, Was Original Intelligence Source for ISIS Bomb Plot
Boy, what a difference a day makes. On Monday, I published an article in Middle East Eye in which I speculated that Jordan was the likely source of the intelligence which Donald Trump relayed to the Russians about an ISIS airplane bomb plot. I wrote then: None of the media stories reveal the name of the foreign nation whose operation Trump exposed. … [Read more...]
First Foreign Visit of Trump Presidency is to Mideast, in Shadow of Major ISIS-Russia Intelligence Scandal
Today, Middle East Eye published an earlier version of this article. After publication, Washington seemed to explode with stories making portions of my earlier piece obsolete. So I've updated it here: As U.S. Pres. Donald Trump prepares for the very first foreign visit of his presidency, a major intelligence scandal and another controversy hang over his … [Read more...]
Obama Abstains, Security Council Denounces Israeli Settlememts
Oh the rage! The betrayal! The wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth--as the U.S. did as promised after decades of defying U.S. policy and international law, settling 750,000 settlers (almost as many Palestinians as were expelled during Nakba) on conquered territory . It permitted a UNSC resolution (text) denouncing Israeli settlements to pass by … [Read more...]