Austria’s Attitude Toward Israel: Following the European Mainstream
Austria doesn’t play a leading role in the European Union nor, as far as I’m concerned, should it. The country’s overall attitude can be characterized as ‘going with the mainstream and not being conspicuous.’ Before the enlargement of the EU in 2004, Austria was one of its smaller countries. Now it is usually considered a medium-sized one.
Spain, NATO, and Israel
“In recent years there has been a change for the better in Israel’s portrayal in the Spanish media. Now at least a few columnists expose Palestinian terrorism, attack anti-Semitism, and outline the problematic context in which Israel has to operate. Op-ed writers like Florentino Portero at ABC, Gabriel Albiac at La Razon, and others sharply contrast with the correspondents and editors at the same newspapers. They remain, however, a small minority. A few years ago, if you wrote an article defendi
Marching for Israel Against Ahmadinejad
On 26 October 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of Iran, made a genocidal call for the elimination of Israel at the “World without Zionism” conference in Teheran. Other speakers were terrorist leaders Hassan Nasrallah of Hizballah and Khaled Mash’al of Hamas.
Confronting Israeli Realities with Dutch Ones
In the past few years Ayaan Hirsi Ali has become known worldwide. In 2006, Reader’s Digest gave her the European of the Year award and said she best embodied Europe’s contemporary values. Hirsi Ali was born in Somalia in 1969 and granted asylum in the Netherlands in 1992. She left for the United States in spring 2006 after she had to resign from the Dutch parliament because of a minister’s ruling that she had never obtained the Dutch nationality. Under parliamentary pressure, the minister’s deci
Germany and Israel: Between Obligation, Taboo, and Resentment
Gerhard Schröder, too young to be part of Nazi Germany, was the first German chancellor who did not seem to labor under the historical cloud that preoccupied all his predecessors from Konrad Adenauer to Helmut Kohl. Its three components were: inherited guilt feelings toward the Jews, a sense of moral obligation toward Israel, and, especially under Adenauer in the early days of the Federal Republic, the sense that it was good realpolitik to be on the side of the young Jewish state.
Anti-Israelism and Anti-Semitism in Sweden
Sweden claims to be a superdemocracy, an example of enlightenment and openness. People with such pretensions should be a little more knowledgeable about Israel, another democracy after all. And yet the average Swedish citizen does not know more than what the country’s shallow media tells him. This is often anti-Israeli, and the public is influenced by it.
Israel, The European Commission, Europe, and the Netherlands
During my commissionership, all matters concerning foreign policy were in the hands of the Italian president Romano Prodi and the British commissioner for international relations Chris Patten. Israel was not a much-debated topic in the Commission. Patten occasionally put it on our agenda.
The Rising Popularity and Current Status of Hizballah Leader Nasrallah After the Lebanon War: Does it Matter?
From North Africa to Iran, Hizballah General Secretary Hassan Nasrallah’s war has captured the imaginations of millions of Muslims. However, popularity of this sort in the Arab world seldom translates into anything substantive in political or strategic terms.
Canadian Jewry Today: Portrait of a Community in the Process of Change
The Canadian Jewish community is now one of the more significant contemporary diaspora Jewish communities, numbering approximately 364,000. It is one of the few communities that is growing demographically. The most important trend in Canadian Jewry in the past decades is the rise of Toronto to preeminent status in terms of Jewish population and the concomitant decline of Montreal.
Anti-Israeli Bias in the European Parliament and Other European Union Institutions
Since 1993, the EU and its member states have given over four billion euros of financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority and a variety of Palestinian NGOs. This was meant to develop democratic institutions as well as promote education and prosperity among Palestinians. A substantial portion of the European funding, however, has served purposes such as corruption and terrorism.
Hizballah in Lebanon: The War Was Not Supposed to End This Way
Israel is not better off strategically than it was at the beginning of the war; this in itself is a Hizballah victory. Israel must prepare to win the next round decisively. The IDF knew that Hizballah could not be defeated without a major ground operation: its plan did not fail – it was never implemented.
Hizballah’s Rocket Campaign Against Northern Israel:
A Preliminary Report
From July 13 to August 13, the Israel Police reported 4,228 rocket impacts inside Israel from rockets fired by Hizballah. No geographical area in the world has sustained such a large quantity of rocket strikes since the Iran-Iraq war in the early 1980s. Most rockets fired by Hizballah at Israel were taken from the Syrian arsenal rather than from Iran. On most occasions, the rocket warhead contained anti-personnel munitions, a mixture of explosives and steel balls.
Referral of Iranian President Ahmadinejad on the Charge of Incitement to Commit Genocide
Now is the time to avert bloodshed: Ahmadinejad’s incitement deserves an indictment.
The Critical Importance of Israeli Public Diplomacy in the War Against the Iran-Hizballah Axis of Terror
Instead of the war being about Israel’s right of self-defense, Hizballah was able to turn it around so that the issue on the international agenda became Israel’s destruction of Lebanon. Israel should have been seen as the victim. We were being attacked. We were the ones who fulfilled all of the requirements of the game. We were true to the international border, we restrained ourselves, we held back. Why should it be that once we start attacking, we immediately start to lose.
Countdown to Conflict: Hizballah’s Military Buildup and the Need for Effective Disarmament
In May 2000, Israel completed a full withdrawal from Lebanon in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 425 from 1978. Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah, however, the "liberator of the South," did not recognize the new border. His patrons in Iran ordered continued jihad against Israel. The Israeli withdrawal in 2000 did not lead Hizballah to become just another political party, and the belief that this would occur was an illusion.
