The Olympics Can’t Spare a Minute for Munich Massacre
Writing in the Huffington Post, Arsen Ostrovsky chides the International Olympic Committee for its refusal to honor the 11 Israeli Olympians massacred by Palestinian terrorists in 1972.
The 2012 Olympics will last seventeen days. That is 408 hours and 24,480 minutes. If the IOC is serious about taking a stand against hatred and terrorism and respecting the memory of the slain Israeli athletes, it must incorporate “just one minute” into the opening ceremony.
The Iranian view on how to strike a deal
David Ignatius of the Washington Post talks to former Iranian nuclear negotiator Seyed Hossein Mousavian for a perspective from the other side of the table.
It’s useful to view recent negotiating history through Iranian eyes. Here’s what this optic reveals: In 2005 Khamenei removed his ban on negotiations with America; in 2009 Iran offered to export to the United States its uranium enriched to 20 percent, and it renewed this offer with greater specificity in 2010 and 2011; Iran accepted a Russian proposal last July to suspend further enrichment capacity and accept the International Atomic Energy Agency’s “additional protocol” for intrusive inspection. The Iranians think that they got nothing but more sanctions for these moves.
Rabbis Side with Catholics, Urge Obama to Drop Mandate
The demand for employers to provide contraceptive services for workers goes against the religious liberties of Orthodox Jews, writes Howard Slugh in the Weekly Standard.
Perhaps the most readily apparent problem from an Orthodox Jewish perspective is the regulation’s requirement that sterilization procedures be offered by employer-provided health insurance plans. (Jewish law usually prohibits sterilization.) The regulation also mandates that employer-provided plans provide their employees with a drug called Ella. Ella can be taken several days after conception and therefore cannot honestly be called a contraceptive, which by definition prevents conception. It is actually an abortifacient, a drug which causes an abortion. … In these circumstances the regulation would require an Orthodox Jewish employer to break the law, violate his conscience, or shut down his business. The government should not force this choice upon any American.
Israel Can’t Solve Africa’s Problems
While there is no excuse for the racist behavior displayed by protesters in south Tel Aviv, writes Jonathan Tobin in Commentary Magazine, it must be understood that Israel cannot deal with its massive influx of African refugees.
The Jewish tradition of caring for the homeless and the stranger has created a large degree of sympathy for the African migrants in Israel. But while it was possible for the country to take in the initial small numbers who found their way there, including those seeking political asylum, now that the rate is up to 1,000 new illegals a month, the situation has gotten out of hand. Israel simply hasn’t the ability to care for or employ that many people who have no ties to the place.
Are We Focusing on the Wrong Nuclear Threat?
Pakistan’s existent nuclear arsenal should be more of an immediate cause for concern than Iran’s dreams of acquiring one, write Victor Asal and Bryan Early in Foreign Policy.
Today’s myopic focus on Iran, moreover, is distracting many (but clearly not all) from paying closer attention to the serious nuclear threat posed by Pakistan. In Foreign Policy’s Failed States Index, Pakistan is ranked 12th in terms of the risk of state failure and is the only nuclear-armed country labeled in “critical” condition. One recent Nuclear Threat Initiative study noted that the country faces “immense threats, both from insiders who may be corrupt or sympathetic to terrorists and from large-scale attacks by outsiders.” For the United States and its allies, a more sustained focus on Pakistan and its extant nuclear weapons is imperative even as the United States and Israel try to neutralize the Iranian threat while avoiding a war.
