In 1968, Michael Oren met a man who inspired the 13-year-old Jew from upstate New York to devote his life to Israel.
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said Tuesday that solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would take away much of the motivation for terrorism around the world.
In Israel, politics is the national pastime. Israelis follow politics the same way certain New Yorkers absorb every statistic, past and present, about the Yankees. Last week, which was sandwiched between the Jewish new year and the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur, Israelis were still following the news - just not the latest round of Middle East peace talks.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approached the peace talks in Washington last week uttering words and phrases we've not heard from him before, i.e., "President Abbas, you are my partner. ... I see in you a partner for peace. ... I am fully aware and I respect your people's desire for sovereignty."
On June 30 of this year, Mosab Hassan Yousef was granted asylum here in the United States. This decision had hung in the balance for the past three years during which time he had applied for and been denied political asylum. After all, Mosab is a son of Sheik Hassan Yousef, one of seven founders and a leader of Hamas.
Given the hubris of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the support he enjoys from the Obama administration, I am surprised the Israeli settlement freeze was not extended to Tel Aviv and Haifa ("End of settlement freeze could derail Mideast talks," Page 1, Tuesday).
Oliver Stone has long has been one of America's best-known and controversial directors, making films lionizing Fidel Castro and Yasser Arafat. But the director of "World Trade Center," "JFK" and "Platoon" has taken up a new cause - Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.
JERUSALEM — A focus on counterterrorism and guerrilla warfare in recent decades has weakened Israeli ground forces by creating a mind-set averse to accepting casualties, according to an initial assessment by Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
TUNISIA
