The suggestion that the application of the Israeli law to the Jordan Valley and parts of Judea and Samaria would severely undermine Israeli interests, jeopardize Israel’s peace treaties with Jordan and Egypt and Israel’s overall ties with Arab countries, is divorced from the Israeli track record and Middle East reality.…
On March 28-30, 2020, the US-Israel Air Forces conducted a joint F-35 jet training exercise over southern Israel. It took place while most US joint military maneuvers with allied forces were suspended due to the Covid19 pandemic. The exercise highlighted the blossoming, mutually-beneficial US-Israel strategic cooperation, which is driven by…
Why is the red carpet, which welcomes Palestinian leaders to Western capitals, exchanged for a shabby rug when they land in most Arab capitals? In 2020, the widely-disseminated Arabic hashtag, “Palestine is not my cause,” reflects the growing Arab disdain toward Palestinians. It is consistent with the policy of key…
The centrality of Track record Western foreign policy and national security establishments – government, media and academia – have been overwhelmingly preoccupied with assessments of future track record of the proposed Palestinian state. They have sidestepped the Palestinian past track record. While a future track record is subjective, intangible, precarious and speculative, a past…
*Notwithstanding Saudi philo-Palestinian talk, Riyadh considers the Palestinian issue a low priority. It ranks significantly lower than the clear and present lethal threat posed by Iran’s Ayatollahs; the potential tectonic eruption in Iraq; the lethal threat from volcanic Yemen; and the domestic powder keg in the oil-rich and Shia-dominated Qatif…
The Early Pilgrims The roots of the unique ties between the United States and Israel precede the 1776 US Declaration of Independence and the 1948 founding of Israel. They eclipse the political beltway of Washington, DC, transcend the pertinent role of the Jewish community, are deeper than the intimate diplomatic discourse…
The roots of the December 6, 2019 murder of three US soldiers at the Pensacola Naval Air Station, by an Islamic Saudi terrorist, are independent of US policy in the Middle East and beyond, as are all previous cases of anti-US and anti-Western Islamic terrorism. For instance, the launching of…
Constructive Defense Pact A constructive US-Israel defense pact should be based on shared values and shared strategic interests, expanding the two-way-street, win-win US-Israel strategic cooperation. An effective US-Israel defense pact should enhance Israel’s self-reliance and independence, rather than Israel’s dependence upon the US. A useful US-Israel defense pact should bolster…
The US mindset on Israel – unlike the US attitude toward other countries – is a bottom-top phenomenon: a derivative of the US public worldview, which feeds legislators in the House and Senate and policy-makers in the White House. The US mindset on Israel draws its strength from the religious,…
US Ambassador David Friedman’s June 8 interview in the NY Times was inconsistent with the worldview of the State Department establishment, but quite consistent with Middle East reality and US national security interests. Ambassador Friedman stated: “The absolute last thing the world needs is a failed Palestinian state between Israel…
“Talk-with-Iran was tried by successive US presidents, starting with Jimmy Carter. In 1980, [Iran’s] Mullahs signed an accord with Carter not to seize anymore American hostages in exchange for de-freezing Iranian assets…. Yet, to this day, Iran has always held American hostages – 14 today…. The Saudis tried to improve…
Former Ambassador Yoram Ettinger will be participating in CCNS’ event on February 26, 2019, discussing “The Mutually-Beneficial Two-Way-Street of US-Israel Relations” and “Would a Palestinian state advance or undermine US national security?” Learn more here. A successful pursuit of peace is preconditioned upon the predominance of reality over well-intentioned eagerness…