July 8, 2013

The US

Headline:  Syria is a '10-year issue,' top general says

To Read:  The National Interest editor Robert Merry revisits Obama's treatment of the Mubarak situation and claims that little has changed-

What’s the lesson for America? It is that we should stay out of the internal politics of other nations because our involvement inevitably tosses us into inconsistent and even hypocritical postures and makes us look like a sanctimonious nation. Further, such meddling always has unintended consequences. Why did Obama have to get involved in Mubarak’s fate in the first place? What standing did he have to lecture the head of a foreign state—and an ally, at that—on when his time had passed? And what standing did he have to suggest, as he subtly did, what Morsi needed to do to legitimize his rule?

Quote: “I don't know what else our nation can do at this time other than urge the military to move along in a responsible way”, Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) the top Republican on the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, commenting on Egypt.

Number: 9, the percentage of Americans who turn to print media as their main news source.  

Israel

Headline: Women of the Wall denied access to Kotel

To Read: Dore Gold writes about a critical issue in the Israel-Palestinian dispute which is not often mentioned: the Jordan Valley-

The Allon Plan, which was largely based on Israel retaining the Jordan Valley, remained a critical component of Israeli military thinking years later, even after conditions in the Middle East changed. Thus on October 5, 1995, almost two years after Israel signed the Oslo Agreements, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin declared before the Knesset that “The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.” In the spirit of Allon, who had been his mentor when they served together in the Palmah, Rabin added: “The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term”.

Quote:  “It is rare for a police force to actively reach out to an external body such as RAND, to allow strangers to review their sore points, and to be willing to have a mirror held up to their faces only because they themselves actively seek to improve their ability to serve the citizenry. It is rarer still to find a police force willing to consent to open publications of the findings from such research. The Israel Police did all of those things”, Steven Popper, author of a new RAND report on the Israeli police.

Number: 71, the percentage of Israelis who believe that Netanyahu's apology to Erdogan was justified.

The Middle East

Headline: Muslim Brotherhood calls for Egypt uprising

To Read:  Michael Goodwin doesn't see any reason to get upset by the undemocratic appearance of Egypt's coup-

So it is with our foreign policy. The first goal is to protect America’s security and interests. Everything else is second.

That formula explains why Mohammed Morsi’s election doesn’t trump other all other considerations. After all, Hamas won an election in Gaza, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won two elections in Iran. Hitler was elected, and so was Saddam Hussein.

Elections in police-state societies can be a step in the right direction, or they can be used as a blank check to further entrench power by a ruling elite aiming for dictatorial authority. Morsi was definitely in that camp.    

Quote:  “Kılıçdaroğlu is striving every bit he can to raise himself from the level of a black person to the level of a white man”, Turkish PM Erdogan criticizing Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of the center-left and secular Republican Peoples Party.

Number: 42, at least 42 people died in clashes outside the headquarters of the Republican Guard in Cairo.

The Jewish World

Headline: Hungary signs new Shoah restitution deal

To Read: Ben Cohen examines Nelson Mandela's attitude toward Jews and Zionism-

But those activists who want to make the Palestinian cause the 21st-century equivalent of the movement that opposed South African apartheid in the 20th century will—assuming they conform to basic standards of honesty—find it very difficult to invoke Mandela as support. Mandela’s memoirs are full of positive references to Jews and even Israel. He recalls that he learned about guerilla warfare not from Fidel Castro, but from Arthur Goldreich, a South African Jew who fought with the Palmach during Israel’s War of Independence. He relates the anecdote that the only airline willing to fly his friend, Walter Sisulu, to Europe without a passport was Israel’s own El Al. And the ultimate smoking gun—the equation of Israel’s democracy with apartheid—doesn’t exist.

Quote: “Oh Sons of Zion, oh most evil among creations, Oh barbaric monkeys, wretched pigs”, an excerpt from a PA television program for kids.

Number: 33, the percentage of Israel's female divorce applicants who face threats or extortions before receiving their divorce.