Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has succumbed to fears of a revolution and announced Saturday the appointment of intelligence chief Omar Suleiman as his first-ever vice president. He also dismissed his cabinet. Suleiman has been a prominent figure in diplomatic ties with Israel and often has acted as a broker in talks between Israel and the […]
Egypt copied Iranian tactics of two years ago and used brutal force against anti-government protesters Saturday, killed up to 108. Meanwhile, Israel was the first country to evacuate diplomats and their families. Philippine is preparing to evacuate 6,500 Filipinos working and studying in Egypt in case the situation grows worse. The Foreign Ministry said it […]
With no fewer than five major areas of unrest/revolutions/regime changes going on in the Arab world, Arab satellite television, one of the mainstays of information dissemination in the Middle East, has been playing a major role in communicating news – or attempting, if not to suppress it, then at least to spin it. For most […]
First Tunisia, then Egypt, and now Yemen: The wave of protests that has hit the Arab world extended to Yemen on Thursday, as tens of thousands of local residents hit the streets in a series of protests nationwide. The Yemenis were demanding that President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has ruled for nearly 32 years, step […]
From the outset of the Obama presidency and the emergence of the Obama Doctrine, the similarities between this Administration and that of Jimmy Carter have been striking. Like Obama, Carter trumpeted soft power and international institutions as the means to solve the most perplexing foreign policy problems. The programs of both Presidents hinged on the […]
The Middle East was meant to be the crowning achievement of the Obama Doctrine. Once in the White House, President Obama focused laser-like on a “charm offensive” with Iran. When voices rose against the regime in Tehran in the wake of a disputed national election, Obama offered virtually no support for the cries for freedom. […]
Riots north and south of Israel spread as the “Tunisia effect” hits Egypt, where police used tear gas on tens of thousands protesters trying to produce a momentum that could topple the regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. North of the border, Sunni Muslims rioted against the Hizbullah political coup. Inspired by the massive demonstration […]
by Daniel Pipes The Washington Times January 18, 2011 The sudden and as-yet-unexplained exit of Tunisia’s strongman, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, 74, after 23 years in power has potential implications for the Middle East and for Muslims worldwide. As an Egyptian commentator noted, “Every Arab leader is watching Tunisia in fear. Every Arab citizen […]
Israel is shocked by international criticism of the demolition of a Jewish-owned property in Jerusalem. “Calling Jerusalem a settlement is a misinterpretation, an insult to the history of the city,” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told the French news agency AFP. “It is incomprehensible that they are mixing questions of private rights, international law […]
IDF soldiers have thwarted several attempts by terrorists to infiltrate southern Israel in recent weeks. Terrorists have tried to move from Gaza to Sinai to Israel via a desert passage known as “route H.” The head of the IDF tracking unit in the south, Colonel Yossi Hadad, spoke to the IDF website about the attempted […]
