Latest Article from Judith Miller

My week with Jeff Sessions before his firing revealed a lot about the man

November 10, 2018  •  Fox News

The C-40 military jet carrying then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions and senior staff had just lifted off the runway at Boston's Logan airport on Oct. 29 when the engine shuddered and the plane hit the ground with a thud. The jet had hit a flock of birds, remnants of which were splattered across the windshield. The two senior aides in the front cabin were pale and shaken. So was I, a reporter covering him that week.

Jeff Sessions never flinched.

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Latest Article from Jonathan Schanzer

No Room for U.S. Concessions on Iran's Civilian Nuclear Aims

November 7, 2018  •  The National Interest

The Trump administration, after reinstating sanctions on the Iranian regime Monday, now seeks to convey that more pressure is on the way. But the messaging by U.S. officials has been mixed, leaving some doubt as to where Washington's Iran policy goes from here.

For example, it was unclear until only a few days ago whether Iran would be booted from SWIFT, the Belgium-based financial messaging service that is crucial to keeping Iran's central bank connected to the international banking system. A majority of Iranian banks are now slated to be disconnected from the ubiquitous messaging system, leaving only a few to remain connected for humanitarian transactions.

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Latest Article from Clifford May

The advance of illiberal world disorder

November 6, 2018  •  The Washington Times

You don't know much about history if you don't know this: "Until 1945 the story of humankind going back thousands of years was a long tale of war, tyranny, and poverty. Moments of peace were fleeting, democracy so rare as to seem almost accidental, and prosperity the luxury of the powerful few."

That quote is from the opening chapter of Robert Kagan's new book: "The Jungle Grows Back: America and Our Imperiled World." A few words about Mr. Kagan: He is a senior fellow at the liberal Brookings Institution, he writes a column for the liberal Washington Post, and the liberal New York Times recently called him a "conservative American thinker."

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Latest Article from Matthew RJ Brodsky

The U.S. Reimposes Remaining Sanctions on Iran

November 5, 2018  •  Take :30 with Shayna Estulin / i24News

Matthew RJ Brodsky joins Senior Washington Correspondent Dan Raviv on i24News "Take :30" with Shayna Estulin to discuss the Trump administration's move to reimpose sanctions on Iran with the arrival of the November 5th deadline and the regime's reaction to the economic vice.

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Latest Article from Soeren Kern

European Human Rights Court Backs Sharia Blasphemy Law

October 29, 2018  •  Gatestone Institute

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that criticism of Mohammed, the founder of Islam, constitutes incitement to hatred and therefore is not protected free speech.

With its unprecedented decision, the Strasbourg-based court — which has jurisdiction over 47 European countries, and whose rulings are legally binding on all 28 member states of the European Union — has effectively legitimized an Islamic blasphemy code in the interests of "preserving religious peace" in Europe.

The case involves Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, an Austrian woman who in 2011 was convicted of "denigrating religious beliefs" after giving a series of lectures about the dangers of fundamentalist Islam.

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Latest Article from Ilan Berman

Testing Trump's Iran Strategy

October 30, 2018  •  The Washington Times

On Nov. 6, Americans will go to the polls in midterm elections that are likely to reshape the complexion of national politics. But even before they do, U.S. foreign policy will face a crucial test of resolve vis-a-vis the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism. Back in May, President Trump formally announced that the United States was withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, and that pre-existing sanctions which had been waived by the Obama administration would begin to "snap back" into place against the Islamic Republic. The first step in this direction was the re-imposition on Aug. 7 of restrictions on Iran's ability to buy U.S. currency, its trade in precious metals, and commercial sales of aircraft and auto parts to the Islamic Republic. These steps have already begun to have a marked impact on Iran's economy, prompting a veritable exodus of foreign companies from the Islamic Republic and cratering the value of Iran's national currency, the rial. But the second tranche of sanctions, which is set to be reinstated on Nov. 4, promises to be even more serious. The new measures will include massive restrictions on Iran's global oil trade, as well as a severing of Iran's Central Bank from the global financial system. Taken in isolation, these steps have the power to deal a severe blow to Iran's fragile, energy-dependent economy. Taken together, the impact on Iran's radical regime — which is already said to be on the verge of economic collapse — could be nothing short of catastrophic. If the sanctions are fully implemented, that is.

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Latest Article from Michael Freund

Heroes, hoodlums and homes in Hebron

October 17, 2018  •  Jerusalem Post

Earlier this week, the cabinet passed a welcome decision that was long overdue. For the first time since 2002, the government approved the construction of 31 Jewish housing units in Hebron, thereby allowing the city's Jewish community to continue to grow.

That it took 16 years to grant permission to Hebron's Jews to build is remarkable, for it underlines how successive governments have failed to muster the requisite courage needed to fortify and expand the Jewish presence in the City of the Patriarchs. There is simply no reason it should be so difficult for Jews to build in the place where our founding father, Abraham, lived and was buried.

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Latest Article from Asaf Romirowsky

As the US cuts funding, UNRWA employees forced to flee Gaza

October 11, 2018  •  Washington Examiner

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine evacuated at least 10 international senior officials from the Gaza Strip last Monday. The reason? These top staffers had received death threats following the announcement of budget cuts and planned layoffs by the agency.

This is all because U.S. had decided not to renew its funding — emboldened, perhaps, by the Taylor Force Act's prohibition on funding organizations that abet terrorism.

UNRWA confirmed later that it had "decided to temporarily withdraw part of its international staff from Gaza following a series of worrying security incidents affecting its personnel in the Strip."

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Latest Article from Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi

The Middle East Studies Association and Islamic State Documents- Complaining About What?

October 8, 2018  •  History News Network

[Originally published under the headline "Why is the Middle East Studies Association Trying to Stop the Online Publication of Islamic State Documents?"]

Why would the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), the primary umbrella organization for the field of Middle East studies, oppose the New York Times partnering with George Washington University (GWU)'s Program On Extremism to produce a public archive of the thousands of Islamic State (ISIS) documents the newspaper retrieved from northern Iraq?

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Latest Article from Henry I. Miller

Eco-Bullying Crosses the Pond
Activists' abuse of Freedom of Information laws is spreading to Europe

October 8, 2018  •  Daily Caller

Some bad ideas have originated in America. Reality television, spray-on cheese, pineapple pizza, and deep-fried Hostess Twinkies come to mind. But the most obnoxious of all may be eco-activist campaigners armed with Freedom of Information Act requests, or FOIAs, who pervert the intention of the law in order to undermine sound science, academic scholarship and the free exchange of ideas.

They're about to make a menace of themselves in Europe

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