Will the UN’s West Bank probe be Goldstone all over again?
Israel would be better off cooperating with the UN Human Rights Council and possibly avoiding a similar palaver to the Gaza war probe, writes Raphael Ahren in the Times of Israel.
Jerusalem did not learn any lesson from the Goldstone saga. The fact is that the United Nations member states are determined to write a report about the settlements. It will undoubtedly be very unflattering, to the settlers in the red-roofed villages of the West Bank and to the politicians in Jerusalem. But ignoring the problem is not going to make it go away.
Obama Hearts Turkish Leader Erdogan As He Oppresses His Own People and Stabs America in the Back
Barry Rubin of PJ Media has harsh words for President Obama over his alliance with Turkey’s Prime Minister.
And how can Obama use Erdogan as his intermediary with Iran when the Turkish ruler made an unauthorized–according to administration officials!–deal with Tehran in 2010 that sabotaged the delicate U.S. drive to toughen anti-Iran sanctions? Indeed, Obama gave Turkey a waiver on implementing the sanctions and Turkish trade with Iran keeps growing, in direct contradiction to Washington’s supposed strategy! For Obama to use a man who is, in effect, in cahoots with the Iranian regime, who has said that he doesn’t believe Iran is building nuclear weapons and stressed his friendship toward that dictatorship, is remarkable.
Benjamin Weinthal and Thomas Joscelyn of the Weekly Standard report from the German trial of an al Qaeda member accused of plotting a devastating attack in Europe.
In testimony before the court, Siddiqui described how he and his co-conspirators planned different travel routes in order to avoid suspicion beginning in early 2009. But their travels had a common theme: Iran was their principal gateway to jihad. According to Siddiqui, two of his co-conspirators—Rami Makanesi and Naamen Meziche—traveled from Vienna to Tehran in order “to not get caught.” Their trip was booked in a Hamburg travel office by an unknown Iranian.
The Coming Out: Can Iraq Finally Make Friends With Its Neighbors?
Writing in the Atlantic, Kenneth M. Pollack anticipates the upcoming Arab League summit, held for the first time in post-Saddam Baghdad.
[I]t seems clear that the Sunni Arab states are far from believing [Iraqi Prime Minister] Maliki has actually changed his spots. Most believe he remains more committed to Iran and Syria than to the rest of the (Sunni) Arab world, and so they are likely to press the Syria issue and try to force Maliki to pick a side. They rightly see his dismissal of the charge that Iran is flying arms to Syria through Iraqi airspace as an effort to placate Iran and make up for his mildly more critical public stance on Syria. Thus, Maliki will have to walk a very narrow tightrope all through the summit to avoid being pushed by the Sunni Arab states or pulled by the Iranians to declare for one side or the other on this critical issue. In recent years, Maliki has shown himself to be a skillful political tactician, but appeasing both camps without alienating either will be quite a feat.
