Listings All Op-eds

College students receive pep talk about Israel

On April 11, 2010, I was on a standard patrol in the southern Hebron hills of the West Bank. While on patrol, my team was notified of a Palestinian herder whose sheep had wandered into a Jewish settlement.

How to “name-and-shame” without looking like a jerk

One of the more controversial tactics in a growing effort to counter the delegitimization of Israel is to “name-and-shame” — to go after those who actively delegitimize Israel and seek to delegitimize them. There are even those who argue that our entire strategy should be to relentlessly attack the other side and to cease “defending” Israel.

Support Israel

This week marks the third-annual Palestinian Solidarity Week at our university. The numerous provocative events that are part of the week do something far different than achieve its stated goals. The solidarity week’s events and the speakers the group brings to the university present distorted facts and extreme biases that ultimately seek to vilify and isolate Israel.

True allies

During the past several weeks, the wave of protests in the Middle East and North Africa has continued to spread. The United States cannot predict whether the series of protests ultimately will result in the strengthening of its alliances, or in the disintegration of its relationships in the region.

An article of faith

This past spring break, I participated in a service trip to Israel through the Hillel Jewish Center and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. I, along with seventeen other University students, spent the week volunteering in the northern city of Nahariyya, a beautiful coastal city that is a mere six miles from Israel’s border with Lebanon.

Direct talks needed for Mideast peace

The Middle East peace process has reached something of an impasse. Israel, with the US, has called for direct negotiations, without preconditions, but the Palestinians refuse to join us. Still, Israel remains committed to attaining a genuine peace grounded on the principle of two states for two peoples living side-by-side in security, prosperity and mutual acceptance.

The real danger of delegitimizing Israel on campus

There is a serious threat facing Israel’s long-term standing in this country resulting from a prolonged campaign to delegitimize the Jewish state on campus. But it’s probably not what you think.

Countering “boycott, divestment and sanctions” and promoting peace at George Washington

Recently, the GW Students for Justice in Palestine sponsored an event honoring the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. As it turned out, some of the panelists seemed to be speaking less from pro-Palestinian positions and more from solely anti-Israel ones.

A 63-year search for Mideast peace

Imagine a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict: a Jewish state living alongside a Palestinian state in permanent peace, with open borders, and even economic union. Sound like fantasy? It wasn’t when the U.N. General Assembly voted in favor of Resolution 181, dividing what was then known as Palestine into independent Jewish and Arab states.

A wrongful protest

As Israel’s ambassador to the US & historian Michael Oren spoke to a group of about 300 people, about 20 silent protesters stood outside with tape on their mouths to express their feelings on what they call the “Israeli occupation.”