Richard Silverstein One of the most stunning defeats in tonight’s primary voting across the country was that of long-time Congressional Democrat Rep. Eliot Engel in a NY primary. Engel, who served in Congress 32 years, chaired the House foreign affairs committee. Its role in bringing forward foreign policy legislation crucial to the Israel Lobby. Engel…
Richard Silverstein NOTE: This is a substantially expanded version of a piece published yesterday by Al Jazeera. It’s the first op-ed I’ve published there in ten years, so it’s an auspicious development. My KPFA Flashpoints interview discussing the subject can be heard here. For those who don’t remember their medieval history, during the Spanish Inquisition…
Richard Silverstein 2018 was a terrible year for the Middle East. Months of massacres in Gaza, tensions between Israel and Hezbollah on its northern border, Qatar under siege from its Sunni neighbours, 85,000 children starved to death in Yemen, and a Sunni alliance rattling sabres against Iran. Though Bashar al-Assad appears to have secured his…
b. traven Richard Silverstein, who authors what I consider the most authoritative blog on Israeli politics and policy, has a take on a shift in Israeli foreign relations that should interest those Americans who are following affairs in the Middle East. In an article titled “Israel Turning from U.S. to Russian-Arab Autocratic Alliance” (read the entire article…
b. traven John Kerry, America’s Secretary of State, has spent the last four months cobbling together a new Palestinian-Israeli peace process charade. To this end, he’s appointed Martin Indyk as his “Special Envoy for Israeli-Palestinian (Peace) Negotiations.” Why has the U.S. media failed to assess this appointment in any critical way? If Indyk had been Muslim…
The Contrary Perspective 