June 27, 2012

Noteworthy

Questions For One-Staters

Writing in the Daily Beast, Ziad J. Asali has some tough questions for proponents of a one-state solution.

How do we negotiate, implement or impose a single state in “Israel-Palestine”? Would it require a UN Security Council or General Assembly resolution dissolving the State of Israel? Does it need the voluntary dissolution of the State of Israel? Negotiations without negotiators? A military solution imposed by the international community or by the armed forces of Palestine and neighboring Arab countries?

The Catholic-Jewish League for Atheism

Jeffrey Weiss of Real Clear Religion raps both liberal Rabbi Arthur Waskow and Catholic League President Bill Donohue for their inflammatory language in a debate that was initially about healthcare.

So much of the religious public discourse these days is a snarl, a rejection of the other. Is it any wonder that people shrug and leave? A pretty good example of anti-evangelism having nothing to do with Baptists popped up recently in an exchange between a rabbi and a lay Catholic leader. Both are in the business of advocating for their side. Often, as this case, they seem satisfied to play to the cheers of people already in their own bleachers.

The Role of Iranian Security Forces in the Syrian Bloodshed

Iran sees the conflict in Syria as key to its plan for hegemony in the region, and is acting to prop up Bashar Assad’s regime, writes Lt. Col. (ret.) Michael Segall for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

During the first year of the Syrian crisis, Iran maintained a low public profile about its aid to Damascus. But in recent weeks as the conflict has intensified, senior figures in Iran’s political-religious-military leadership have acknowledged that Iran is militarily involved in Syria through the Revolutionary Guard Corps – Qods Force (IRGC-QF). Reports on this involvement and its characteristics by Syrian opposition elements and Western sources are indeed proliferating.

Media Digest