Latest Article from Michael Freund

Congress should impose sanctions on Qatar

July 29, 2014  •  Jerusalem Post

It is a tiny speck of a country, smaller than Connecticut, and home to fewer people than Chicago. But despite its diminutive size, the Gulf Arab state of Qatar is punching far above its weight and causing bloodshed and instability throughout the Middle East.

It is time that it be called to account for its deadly actions.

Though it bills itself as "a close ally of the United States" on the website of its Washington embassy, Qatar has been playing a double game for years, often working to undermine American and Western interests in the region.

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Latest Article from Clifford May

FAA hands Hamas a big win

July 23, 2014  •  USA Today

A colleague and I were waiting for an airplane at Ben-Gurion International Airport just outside Tel Aviv a couple of weeks ago. Suddenly, sirens sounded. We quickly, quietly followed escorts to a shelter.

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Latest Article from Jonathan Schanzer

Why Qatar and Turkey Can't Solve the Crisis in Gaza

July 23, 2014  •  The National Interest

With Washington desperate for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, and with Egypt having flamed out as a broker of calm, two of Hamas's top patrons are about to be rewarded with a high-profile diplomatic victory. U.S. and Israeli media are now reporting that the White House may be looking to Qatar and Turkey to help negotiate an end to the hostilities. Qatar, in fact, held a high-profile cease-fire summit in Doha on Sunday that included Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, the Norwegian foreign minister, and Hamas leader Khaled Meshal.

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Latest Article from Ilan Berman

An Iranian-Turkish Reset

July 22, 2014  •  Washington Times

Earlier this summer, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani paid a very public two-day visit to a surprising locale: Ankara, Turkey. The June trip — the first of its kind in nearly 20 years — represented a significant evolution of the political ties between Iran and Turkey. In recent times, relations between Ankara and Tehran have been troubled on a number of fronts (from energy to Turkey's role in NATO's emerging missile shield). However, no issue has roiled ties between the two countries more than Syria.

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Latest Article from Soeren Kern

EU Leaders Deeply Divided Over Russia

July 21, 2014  •  Gatestone Institute

European divisions over relations with Russia are being laid bare by the shooting down of a passenger plane over Ukraine.

The missile attack on Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 claimed the lives of 298 passengers, including 230 Europeans, making it the single most deadly act of terror in modern European history.

But despite a growing body of evidence that MH17 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile that was launched from an area that is controlled by Russian-backed separatists inside of Ukraine, the European Union's 28 member states have still been unable to agree on even a basic unified response to the attack.

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Latest Article from Michael Rubin

Time for an Anwar Sadat Moment in the Middle East

July 19, 2014  •  The National Interest

As Israel launched a ground incursion into the Gaza Strip, diplomats across the globe redoubled efforts to restore calm. Jordan called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council. Egypt and Qatar sought to broker a truce. On July 16, President Obama embraced "diplomatic efforts to restore the cease-fire", and the following day, Secretary of State John Kerry cancelled an appearance at a Washington synagogue in order to consult with his international counterparts about the growing crisis. With violence flaring and diplomats scrambling, it's déjà vu all over again in the Middle East. Operation Protective Edge has simply become the sequel to 2008-2009's Operation Cast Lead or, for that matter, the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.

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Latest Article from Judith Miller

The risks of Israel's Gaza incursion

July 18, 2014  •  Fox News

While Israel has demonstrated enormous strategic patience with Hamas' over 1,500 rocket attacks which sent some two-thirds of Israelis into bomb shelters, the potential cost to Israel of even a limited ground incursion in northern Gaza -- the death of more Palestinian civilians, the loss or kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, and a further erosion of Israel's international standing -- could be high.

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Latest Article from Jeff Stier

Iowan's USDA appointment raises concern

July 18, 2014  •  The Des Moines Register

The appointment of Iowa's Angela Tagtow, a controversial "environmental nutritionist" and local food activist, to head the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion is causing more headaches for the agency, already facing criticism about politicization of federal nutrition advice and its consequences for public health.

By using the government's official dietary guidelines as a tool to advance her well-established environmentalist agenda, Tagtow would undermine the USDA's mandate — to provide families with science-based, impartial nutrition advice.

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Latest Article from Asaf Romirowsky

Understanding UNRWA

July 17, 2014  •  The National Interest

The Palestinian refugee issue has been around since 1948. UNRWA, the United Nations institution dedicated to their preservation, has been in existence since 1950.

With the recent re-approval of UNRWA's mandate for more than three years, it is worth asking: how long have Western policy makers understood that UNRWA was a tool for Palestinians and Arab states to perpetuate the "refugee crisis" and that Palestinians would never accept anything except repatriation to Israel, an attitude that guarantees hostilities in perpetuity? The answer is, since the beginning. That is why after more than sixty years, British diplomatic documents on UNRWA and the Palestinians are still classified by the Foreign Office.

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