Politics & Society

Lemkin and Morgenthau Recognized the Armenian Genocide, So Should the U.S. and Israel

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In 2004, the U.S. officially recognized a genocide taking place in the Darfur region of Sudan. Although atrocities continued, the weight of this acknowledgment reverberated throughout the world. The global citizen could no longer claim ignorance regarding the atrocities taking place in Sudan. But neither the U.S. nor Israel have taken what you might think would be an easier stand, to recognize the almost century-old Armenian genocide. It’s important that they do so.

General News

Nine Years after 9/11, Conservatives Embolden Al-Qaeda with Rhetoric

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Nine years after the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil, it is difficult to imagine Newt Gingrich wire transferring millions of dollars to Osama bin Laden. It is also hard to envision Rush Limbaugh sending a shipment of weapons to Al-Qaeda. However, many “well meaning” American figures are aiding bin-Laden and his cohorts with words almost as lethal as explosives or ammunition. Unable to defeat the United States militarily, Al-Qaeda’s primary influence stems from its ideology. In a 1998 interview with Osama Bin Laden, ABC reporter John Miller uncovered the heart of Al-Qaeda’s philosophy through bin-Laden’s own words: “The terrorism we practice is of the commendable kind for it is directed at the tyrants and the aggressors and the enemies of Allah, the tyrants, the traitors who commit acts of treason against their own countries and their own faith and their own prophet and their own nation…

War & Peace

Ahmedinejad Is Not an Existential Threat

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“You don’t want a messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs,” he said. “When the wide-eyed believer gets hold of the reins of power and the weapons of mass death, then the world should start worrying, and that’s what is happening in Iran.” Israel, Netanyahu told me, is worried about an entire complex of problems, not only that Iran, or one of its proxies, would destroy Tel Aviv; like most Israeli leaders, he believes that if Iran gains possession of a nuclear weapon, it will use its new leverage to buttress its terrorist proxies in their attempts to make life difficult and dangerous; and he fears that Israel’s status as a haven for Jews would be forever undermined, and with it, the entire raison d’être of the 100-year-old Zionist experiment. Jeffrey Goldberg’s The Point of No Return, The Atlantic September 2010
Contrary to Netanyahu’s cries, Iran is not a crazy state… Of course, Israel’s own nuclear arsenal should be sufficient to deter Iran…

General News

What if they opposed a shul?

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What if you opened up your email and saw the following headline: “Join us in our opposition to a planned synagogue near Wall Street.” Then, after reading further, it blamed the entire Jewish community for the depraved actions of a few. Imagine if the letter spoke at length about Bernie Madoff, Andrew Fastow, Jack Abramov, Ivan Boesky and even Meyer Lansky and David Berkowitz to create a picture of Jews far removed from reality. Needless to say, the first words out of your mouth might be “anti-Semitism.” In this imaginary world, however, most Americans are now open to this train of thought.