Part I: Why the Arabs Hate Jews: A Twist Countless articles have been written trying to explain why Arabs, in particular the self-styled “Palestinians,” hate Jews. The explanation is embarrassingly simple: The Arabs hate Jews because the Jews refuse to hate the Arabs! The Arabs deem this moral indifference of the Jews insulting. After all,
Paul Eidelberg
Has it ever occurred to Israeli prime ministers that when a democracy negotiates with a dictatorship, and does so publicly, the dictatorship gains an enormous advantage, having thus been dignified and further empowered in the world at large? Have Israeli prime ministers assessed the political and moral consequences of negotiating with dictatorships? Are they unaware
“Operation Babylon” was a surprise Israeli air strike carried out on June 7, 1981, that destroyed a nuclear reactor under construction 10.5 miles southeast of Baghdad, Iraq. Menachem Begin was then Israel’s Prime Minster. Unsurprisingly, Israel was condemned for this act by the world community. As I wrote at the time, Mr. Begin’s response was “a creditable one measured
Ever since Henry Kissinger’s shuttle diplomacy following the Yom Kippur war of 1973, the term “honest broker” has been bandied about to describe America’s role in the conflict-ridden Middle East. But what is an “honest broker”? First, the mere fact that the adjective “honest” qualifies the noun “broker” suggests that brokers are usually dishonest or
Ferdinand Lassalle was a prominent nineteenth-century social democrat. In his drama Franz von Sickengen, there occurs a dialogue between a Lutheran chaplain, a pacifist, and Ulrick von Hutten, the great sixteenth-century humanist. To the pacifist’s contention that reason as opposed to force is the driving principle of history, von Hutten replies: “My worthy Sir! You are
On February 12 we honor the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, one of the greatest American presidents, indeed, one of the greatest statesman in history. It was Abraham Lincoln who preserved the Union of the American people, and it was by his saving the Union that America eliminated slavery and revived her “ancient faith” articulated in
Back in 2007, two years before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu endorsed the creation of a Palestinian state, I published an article citing a letter penned by President Theodore Roosevelt, a letter dated April 4, 1904. Pity Israel does not have a leader of Roosevelt’s caliber. Roosevelt was a man of extraordinary erudition, wisdom, and courage.
The title of this essay occurred to me while reading a superb book by Professor Will Morrisey of Hillsdale College, Michigan, The Dilemma of Progressivism: How Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson Reshaped the American Regime of Self-Government (Rowman and Littlefield, 2009). A principle of universal significance can be drawn from this book, namely, that materialism animates
If we exclude Israel’s destruction of Iraq’s Osirac nuclear reactor in 1981 and the Syrian reactor in 2007, it would not be wrong to say that Israel has pursued a defensive military strategy. Unless I am mistaken—and without forgetting the Six Day War—this has long been the normative policy of the Israel Defense Forces. Apparently,
During his first term in office, President Bill Clinton echoed Lincoln, saying, “My policy is to have no policy.” To have no policy is to have no firm political principles, no moral convictions, hence, no sense of honor. This obviously does not represent Lincoln who, as one scholar has written, meant that he, Lincoln, “would
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Journalism
by Paul Eidelberg
Political journalism is not politically neutral or “value-free.” This may also be said of political science, pretensions to the contrary notwithstanding. The reason is this: The reporting of news, like academic discourse on politics, inevitably involves criteria of importance: some things are intrinsically more important than others. But criteria of importance are not politically neutral.