DOCSLIB.ORG

Ethics of Modern War Tikvah Advanced Institutes Fall 2013

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Ethics of Modern War Tikvah Advanced Institutes Fall 2013 THE TIKVAH FUND 165 E. 56th Street New York, New York 10022 Ethics of Modern War Tikvah Advanced Institutes Fall 2013 Tikvah Fellows (2013-14) Alan Goldsmith Alan Goldsmith is a national security professional with over six years of experience in foreign policy, Congress, policymaking, oversight, and communications. He served on the staff of the House Foreign Affairs Committee from 2007 to 2013, covering the Middle East and international organizations. Alan previously served as senior writer for Americans for a Strong Defense, a non- profit campaign opposing Chuck Hagel’s nomination for Secretary of Defense. Alan holds an M.A. in Strategic Security Studies from National Defense University and a B.A. in Political Science from Yeshiva University. He is a member of Young Professionals in Foreign Policy, and the Republican Jewish Coalition. Elana Stein Hain Elana Stein Hain has served as the Community Scholar at Lincoln Square Synagogue for the past five years, and she is a Ph.D. candidate in Religion at Columbia University. Elana is currently a faculty member at NYU Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service, where she teaches courses as part of a new minor on Religious Life and Leadership. Simone Hartmann Simone Dinah Hartmann was born and raised in Vienna, Austria and holds an M.Sc. in Information Technology and Politics from the Vienna University of Technology. She served in the Austrian student parliament where she became engaged against the Austrian far right and anti-Semitism. During the second intifada, she initiated pro-Israel events throughout German-speaking countries. In response to Iran’s nuclear program she started the European-wide coalition “Stop the Bomb,” and serves as its spokesperson and director in Austria. Hartmann has lectured and written extensively on matters related to the security of Israel, anti-Semitism and the Iranian threat in the German-speaking and international press, and is co-publisher of two anthologies on Iran and its European supporters. Kate Havard Kate Havard works as a reporter and junior editor at The Weekly Standard. She writes on congressional and national politics for the magazine’s print edition and blog, and in 2012 covered the Ohio Senate Race and the Democratic National Convention. Ms. Havard also covered Maryland politics for the Washington Post. She graduated with a B.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College, Maryland. Elad Popovich Elad Popovich is the Executive Director of the Liberal Democracies Facing Asymmetric Conflicts project (LD-AC), at the University of Haifa. Previously, Elad served as the Secretary General and an executive committee member of the Association of Civil-Military Scholars in Israel (2012-2013). Elad is an attorney at law and serves on the Israel Bar Association’s Military and Security National Committee. He is an associate researcher at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), and an instructor in the Israeli military. Elad is currently pursuing doctoral studies in international relations at the University of Haifa and holds an M.A. in political science from Tel Aviv University, and an LL.B. and B.A. from the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya IDC. His professional specializations are: laws of war and international humanitarian law (in the scope of asymmetric conflicts), counter-terrorism and COIN, cyber threats, psychological warfare, psycho-strategy, Palestinian terrorist organizations, Hezbollah, and global jihad. Yishai Schwartz Yishai Schwartz is currently a senior at Yale University majoring in philosophy and religious studies. A native of Riverdale, New York, Yishai studied for a year at the Yeshivat Har Etzion in Alon Shevut, Israel before entering Yale College. Yishai has worked as a research assistant for Yale Law School Professor Kate Stith, for whom he helped draft a study of Washington State's sentencing policies and prepare a federal law case-book for publication. At Yale, Yishai is the Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Philosophy Review, and a staff columnist for the Yale Daily News. He has also been Speaker of the Yale Political Union, a Vice President of the Yale Friends of Israel, and a founding editor of Shibboleth, Yale's undergraduate journal of Jewish thought. Erez Tadmor Erez Tadmor the Political Editor of Mida, an Israeli web magazine, and the co-founder and former policy division head of the Im Tirtzu movement. Erez has a B.A. in political science and the multidisciplinary program from the Hebrew University, and is currently studying for an M.A. in political media at Bar Ilan University. He has held publicity and journalism posts at Maariv, Makor Rishon, and Yediot Yerushalayim. Jonathan Yudelman Jonathan Yudelman grew up in Canada, where he studied philosophy and classics at McGill University before determining to move to Israel in 2001. Following service in the IDF, he attended the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, completing a B.A. in Jewish Thought and an M.A. in philosophy, and working as a teaching assistant. He received the Philosophy Department’s annual award for academic achievement, and the M.A. prize from the Jabotinsky Institute in Tel Aviv. He has a long-standing relationship with the Shalem Center in Jerusalem where he worked for a number of years, and has published work in Azure, the LA Review of Books, The Jerusalem Post, and others. His current intellectual interests include the 20th century intersection of the history of philosophy and the philosophy of history, Zionist thought, Jewish political theology, and understanding the amorphous crisis of the West. Tikvah Institutes Participants Joanna Baron Joanna Baron recently completed a clerkship for Justices David Watt and Paul Rouleau of the Court of Appeal for Ontario, in Toronto, Canada. She will spend the coming year as a Fox Scholar at the Inns of Court and Middle Temple in London. Upon her return to Canada, Ms. Baron intends to practice criminal law. She graduated in 2012 from McGill University's Faculty of Law and earned a M.A. in Classics from St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland, where she studied ancient Greek philosophy and literature. She participated in the 2012 Tikvah Israel Fellowship in Zionist Thought at Ein Prat Academy for Leadership. Eran Ben-Ari Eran Ben-Ari is a lawyer in the Civil Division of Israel’s Attorney General’s Office, where he represents various government bodies in civil cases before the Supreme Court, including tort claims brought by Palestinians who argue that they have been injured during Israel’s military campaigns. He also serves as a Military Advocate in the Israeli Defense Forces Reserves, where he investigates Israeli soldiers for alleged violations and reviews complaints filed by human rights organizations. Previously, Mr. Ben-Ari served as the Secretary of Justice on the Edmund Levy Committee, which in 2012 published the Report on the Legal Status of Building in Judea and Samaria. In 2011, he was elected to the National Council of the Israeli Bar Association. In addition to law and politics, he is interested in Jewish archeology, geography, and history, particularly the ancient Greek and Roman periods. Eleazar Berman Eleazar Berman is breaking news editor of the Times of Israel, where he oversees reporting on Israeli politics and security issues. Previously, Mr. Berman worked in the trade and investment department of the British Embassy to the United States, acted as research manager for the foreign policy department of the American Enterprise Institute, and spent several months advising the Council of Ministers of the Kurdish Regional Government on economic issues. He earned a M.A. in Security Studies from Georgetown University, where he wrote a thesis on the Israel Defense Forces’ innovations in response to hybrid threats in the 21st century. Mr. Berman was a platoon commander in the IDF and plans to enter the Israeli national security community. Azgad Gold Azgad Gold is a practicing psychiatrist who writes widely on the intersection of psychiatry with medicine, ethics, and halakha. He earned his M.D. from the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University and his Ph.D. from the Department of Philosophy at Bar Ilan University. Dr. Gold also studied in Yeshivat Har Etzion and Siach Yeshiva. Prior to establishing a private psychiatric practice in 2012, he spent three years as a postdoctoral fellow in the Division of Law, Ethics and Psychiatry of Columbia University’s Department of Psychiatry. He is the author of numerous articles, reviews, and book chapters; in 2011 he published The School of Shammai: Personality, Philosophy, and Halakha. His second book, On Miracles and Nature: A Critical Philosophic Analysis of Halakhic Literature, is forthcoming from Bar Ilan University Press. Aaron Kaplowitz Aaron Kaplowitz is director of communications at the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C., where he works closely with Ambassador Michael Oren and oversees the Embassy’s press operations and media strategy. He is also a freelance editor for the Jewish Lives series of Yale University Press and is currently working on a manuscript about Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook. He has published in the New York Times, the Boston Globe Magazine, USA Today, and The New Republic. Raised in New Jersey, Mr. Kaplowitz volunteered in a combat unit for the Israel Defense Forces following the onset of the Second Lebanon War. He earned a B.S. in journalism, magna cum laude, from Boston University’s College of Communication in 2006. Emmanuel Navon Emmanuel Navon is the director of the Political Science and Communication Department at the Jerusalem Orthodox College, lecturer in International Relations at Tel Aviv University and the Interdisciplinary Center-Herzliya, a senior fellow of the Kohelet Policy Forum, and an analyst and commentator for I24News, a trilingual (English, Arabic, and French) Israeli cable TV network. He also has experience promoting Israeli business interests in the European Union and sub-Saharan Africa.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Self-Described 'Franglo' Running for Likud List
    Jpost | Print Article Page 1 of 2 August 25, 2012 Saturday 7 Elul 5772 23:25 IST Self-described ‘Franglo’ running for Likud list By GIL HOFFMAN 24/08/2012 Emmanuel Navon aims to represent French and English speaking immigrants in the Knesset. Photo by: Navon.com The only “Anglo” candidate for the Likud’s next Knesset slate may end up being a “Franglo.” In the 2009 election, no less than seven American-born candidates sought Knesset seats with Likud but either dropped out or failed to win realistic slots. This time around, the only announced candidate so far with connections to an English- speaking country is Emmanuel Navon, who was born and raised in Paris, but married a New Yorker, lives among American immigrants in Efrat, and hopes to represent both English and French speakers in the Knesset. “Just living in Efrat you get honorary American citizenship,” Navon joked in an interview at a popular Jerusalem waffle bar. “I attended a bilingual school, went to England every summer, and then lost my English accent in Israel thanks to my wife. I am not saying I can succeed where other [Anglo candidates] failed but there are a lot of votes if you combine the English and French speakers together. It’s time to leverage this political power.” Navon, who earned a doctorate in international relations from the Hebrew University following his aliya in 1993, directs the political science and communications department at Jerusalem Orthodox College and teaches at Tel Aviv University and the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. After 12 years in academia, he decided to make his political expertise less theoretical.
    [Show full text]
  • Israel's National Religious and the Israeli- Palestinian Conflict
    Leap of Faith: Israel’s National Religious and the Israeli- Palestinian Conflict Middle East Report N°147 | 21 November 2013 International Crisis Group Headquarters Avenue Louise 149 1050 Brussels, Belgium Tel: +32 2 502 90 38 Fax: +32 2 502 50 38 [email protected] Table of Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................... i Recommendations..................................................................................................................... iv I. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 II. Religious Zionism: From Ascendance to Fragmentation ................................................ 5 A. 1973: A Turning Point ................................................................................................ 5 B. 1980s and 1990s: Polarisation ................................................................................... 7 C. The Gaza Disengagement and its Aftermath ............................................................. 11 III. Settling the Land .............................................................................................................. 14 A. Bargaining with the State: The Kookists ................................................................... 15 B. Defying the State: The Hilltop Youth ........................................................................ 17 IV. From the Hills to the State ..............................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Se Sparisce La Palestina, Rimarremo Tutti Orfani *
    Se sparisce la Palestina, rimarremo tutti orfani * labottegadelbarbieri.org/se-sparisce-la-palestina-rimarremo-tutti-orfani/ Francesco Masala 20 Giugno 2021 articoli di Gideon Levy, Yvonne Ridley, Green Girls, Ali Abunimah, Tamara Nassar, Adam Raz, Amira Hass, Umberto De Giovannangeli, Richard Silverstein, Mahmoud Soliman, Ahmad Melhem, Stanley L. Cohen, Mohammed Moussa, Benay Blend, Rajaa Natur, Vera Pegna, Rania Muhareb, Bram Wispelwey, Mads Gilbert, Grazia Parolari, Basman Derawi, Yael Lotan, Miko Peled, Azad Essa, Jonathan Cook, Nadim Nashif, vignette di Carlos Latuff Sommario-commento di qualche articolo riportato, ma non solo di Francesco Masala Albert Einstein, che capiva molte cose, usava la parola criminali per chi stava per fondare lo stato di Israele (ma, si sa, Einstein era un antisionista, e un antisemita). Ebrei israeliani estremisti amano i nazisti, strani i salti mortali (per i palestinesi) della storia. Borges, se avesse saputo dell’esistenza delle ragazze che coltivano nella Striscia di Gaza avrebbe scritto che “Queste persone, che noi ignoriamo, stanno salvando il mondo”. Israele e territori occupati, un ossimoro, ben prima del 1967. Ricordo di Mohammed Saeed Hamayel, l’ennesima vittima innocente del Golia israeliano. I piloti israeliani cantano in coro la loro missione, distruggere, distruggere, distruggere. Scrive Basman Derawi: Che tipo di resistenza/faresti/se la tua casa fosse stata rubata/se la tua vita fosse solo argilla/nelle mani di qualcun altro?/Qualcuno che dice che il suo dio/gli ha promesso la tua terra? I rabbini riscrivono la Bibbia, Abramo e Mosè forse non esistono, Dio non pervenuto, chi glielo dice al governo israeliano? (anche se lo sapevano dall’inizio).
    [Show full text]
  • The 'Third Debate' Revisited
    Review of International Studies (2001), 27, 611–625 Copyright © British International Studies Association The ‘third debate’ revisited EMMANUEL NAVON Abstract. This article challenges the idea that IR theory is in the midst of a ‘third debate’ between ‘positivistic’ and ‘post-positivistic’ approaches, by showing that neither the ‘first’ nor the ‘second’ debates have lost any of their relevance, and by arguing that the ‘third debate’ and the allegedly new paradigms it generated do not constitute a challenging innovation. While the ‘first debate’ is a debate between two visions of human nature, the ‘second debate’ is a debate between two visions of knowledge. A critical stance vis-à-vis rationalism does not imply a rejection of political realism, nor an endorsement of postmodernism or constructivism. What is absurdly called theory today is just a mask for fashion and greed. Camille Paglia1 The idea that IR theory is in the midst of a ‘third debate’ between positivistic and post-positivistic scholars has become a nearly unchallenged commonplace.2 According to the ‘third debate’ thesis, IR theory went through three successive stages: a debate between ‘idealism’ and ‘realism’ in the 1920s and 1930s, followed by a debate between ‘history’ and ‘science’ in the 1950s and 1960s, and finally replaced by a debate between ‘positivism’ and ‘post-positivism’ in the 1980s and 1990s.3 The ‘third debate’ generated an allegedly new paradigm (namely, constructivism) and students of International Relations are supposedly compelled to make their choice between ‘positivism’, ‘postmodernism’, and ‘constructivism’. The present article challenges the very relevance of the ‘third debate’ and ques- tions the novelty and validity of constructivism.
    [Show full text]
  • The International Status of Jerusalem by Emmanuel Navon Hartman
    The International Status of Jerusalem By Emmanuel Navon Hartman Institute Delegation (Jerusalem), 26 June 2017 The legal status of Jerusalem was no different than the status of other towns and cities under Ottoman rule, and later under British rule. Jerusalem had a special meaning, and continues to have a special meaning to Jews, Muslims, and Christians. But its legal status was not an issue under Ottoman and under British rule. Although the status of Jerusalem under British rule was not a legal issue, there were already tensions between Jews and Muslims back then. The Jerusalem Mufti appointed by the British in 1921, Hadj Amin al-Husseini, violently opposed the Jews' attempts to turn the Western Wall into a de facto synagogue, with chairs, with Torah scrolls, and with a separation between men and women. This opposition turned into violence, with a pogrom against the Jewish population of Jerusalem, of Hebron, and of Safed. In 1931, the Mufti convened an international conference on Jerusalem, in which he accused the Jews of wanting to destroy the al-Aqsa mosque in order to rebuild their temple. The partition proposals of the Peel Commission (in 1937) and of the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (1947) left Jerusalem outside of both the Jewish state and the Arab state. There were too many sensibilities involved to grant the sovereignty to either population. Demographically, there was a Jewish majority in Jerusalem since the mid-19th century, but Jerusalem is holy to the three monotheistic religions. The UN partition plan of 1947 proposed to make Jerusalem a separate entity, a corpus separatum under UN sovereignty.
    [Show full text]
  • "Time to Merge UNRWA with UNHCR" by Emmanuel Navon Knesset Lobby for UNRWA Reform, 12 March 2018 the Israeli-Palestini
    "Time to Merge UNRWA with UNHCR" By Emmanuel Navon Knesset Lobby for UNRWA Reform, 12 March 2018 The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is so complex that it has defied, so far, the countless attempts to solve it. Many conflicts around the world are still unresolved -such as Northern Cyprus, Western Sahara, and Sri Lanka. And yet, the prevalent view on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues to be that all the core issues (Jerusalem, borders and refugees) must and can all be solved at once. Such was the approach of John Kerry's unsuccessful attempt to solve the conflict in 2014. Instead of this all-or-nothing approach, how about trying to untie some of the conflict's Gordian knots -even partially and progressively? The refugee issue and UNRWA are a good place to start. And as foreign diplomats serving in Israel, I believe that you have an important role to play by influencing your respective governments on this issue. The Palestinian leadership claims that there can be no peace with Israel without the so-called right of return. But if this "right of return" were to be applied as the Palestinians see it, there would be no Israel at all, because Israel would no longer be a nation-state. What the Palestinians mean by the "right of return" is that the descendants of the 1948 refugees, should be granted, even after three generations, the right to immigrate to pre-1967 Israel and to become Israeli citizens. Since, according to UNRWA, there are about 5 million Palestinian refugees today, Israel would no longer be a nation-state.
    [Show full text]
  • France, Israel, and the Jews: the End of an Era? Emmanuel Navon
    Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs, 2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23739770.2015.1042277 France, Israel, and the Jews: The End of an Era? Emmanuel Navon Emmanuel Navon is the Chairman of the Political Science and Communication Department at the Jerusalem Orthodox College and a Senior Fellow at the Kohelet Policy Forum (a Jerusalem-based conservative-libertarian think tank). He lectures on Interna- tional Relations at Tel Aviv University and at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya. He is the author of several books including, most recently, The Victory of Zionism. The tragic events that shook France in January 2015 (the mass shooting in Paris of Charlie Hebdo journalists and of shoppers at a kosher supermarket) raised questions about the safety of French Jews and revived the age-old controversy about public statements by Israeli leaders calling upon French Jews to immigrate to Israel. When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Jews are not safe in France and that Israel is their true home, he stirred the ire of French officials. Prime Minister Manuel Valls of France retorted, “Without its Jews, France would no longer be France, and the Republic would be considered a failure.” Was this just another controversy about Israel’s right (or lack thereof) to speak in the name of French Jews, or do the tragic January 2015 events mark the end of an era in the history of French Jews? One cannot address this question without understanding the history of French Jewry and of the relations between France and Israel. Downloaded by [Tel Aviv University] at 05:21 07 July 2015 When, in 1791, the French National Assembly debated the issue of granting citizenship to Jews, Count Stanislas de Clermont-Tonnerre declared that “Jews ought to be denied everything as a nation and be granted everything as individuals; they should constitute neither a political group nor an order; they must be individual citizens.” This famous statement summarizes the traditional attitude of the French Republic toward Jews.
    [Show full text]
  • Israel's European Dilemma
    Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs, 2019 https://doi.org/10.1080/23739770.2018.1585644 Israel’s European Dilemma Emmanuel Navon Emmanuel Navon is an International Relations lecturer at Tel Aviv University and at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC); a fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS) and at the Kohelet Policy Forum; and an analyst for i24news. His book The Star and the Scepter: A Diplomatic History of Israel is forthcoming. Europe has always been a source of controversy in Israel. In the 1940s, Palestinian Jews argued about whether and how to fight the British. In the 1950s, Israeli society was torn over the reparation agreement with Germany. In the 1960s, France progressively mutated from Israel’s strongest ally to its prime castigator. In the 1970s, an oil-sensitive Europe caved in to Arab demands, and Israeli leaders lashed out at their European counterparts. In the 1980s, with the Lebanon War and the first intifada, Israel was often accused by European media of committing crimes reminiscent of World War II. In the 1990s, Europe welcomed the Oslo agree- ments but soon blamed Israel for their failure. In the 2000s, Ariel Sharon was the bête noire of Europeans who nevertheless canonized him as a new Charles de Gaulle after he ended Israel’s presence in Gaza. In recent years, the controversy over Israel’s relations with Europe has been infused with a new dimension and has produced new dilemmas. European society is going through an identity crisis and is becoming increasingly pola- rized, both side effects of the 2008 financial crash and of the mass migration from North Africa and the Middle East that began in 2011.
    [Show full text]
  • The Herzliya Insights 2019
    The Herzliya Insights 2019 Conference Conclusions Navigating Stormy Waters – Time for a New Course Iran – on a Violent Collision Course with the United States and Israel The Palestinian Arena – Fracturing Institutions and Paradigms Fissures in the National Resilience Will Israel Win the Next War? United States-Israel Relations: Put to the Test The Middle East – Instability, Uncertainty, Volatility Israel’s Relations with Sunni-Arab World – the Glass Ceiling Great Power Rivalry, the Global Economy, and Israel Russia – Friend or Foe? Possible Turning Points and Game-Changers Herzliya, January 2020 The Herzliya Insights 2019 Conference Conclusions Navigating Stormy Waters Time for a New Course Herzliya, January 2020 The Main Message Navigating Stormy Waters – Time for a New Course In recent years, Israel is experiencing a relatively improved and stable security situation. Terror has been contained to a tolerable level, the Middle East has not nuclearized, the economy is growing, and foreign relations are improving, including with Arab countries. Nevertheless, Israel faces a complex and challenging horizon that presents three basic interlocking trends: • Mounting strategic challenges in the region – topped by the Iranian threat along three dimensions (nuclear, long-range missiles, and dangerous force build-up in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen) and troubling processes in the Palestinian arena. • Widening fissures in Israel’s domestic national resilience – while domestic cohesiveness and resilience are crucial for withstanding the strategic challenges facing Israel. • Potential erosion of Israel’s relations with the United States – an alliance that is a major pillar of Israel’s national security. The external and domestic threats reinforce each other in different contexts and intensify the multidimensional challenges facing Israel.
    [Show full text]
  • Israeli Election Bulletin | March 19
    Israeli Election Bulletin | March 19 BICOM's Poll of Polls Aggregate Polling March 4-19 Several parties such as Raam, Meretz, Religious Zionists and Blue and White all polling close to threshold Party size and where they stand on major issues Final messaging We are just four days away from the election and the parties have honed their nal messages. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to frame the choice as between him and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid, deliberately downplaying the signicance of his rivals on the right. Netanyahu has continuously highlighted the success of the coronavirus vaccine procurement that he delivered and the subsequent ending of the lockdown, with nal restrictions conveniently being lifted today. Lapid’s campaign has shifted away from emphasising a ‘sane’, reasonable, and moderate leadership model to now siphoning o votes from the smaller centre-left parties in an eort to become the most realistic alternative to Netanyahu. Lapid's former partners in Blue and White are at most risk of losing out due to this shift. On the right, Yamina’s plan is to target Likud voters and promote Naftali Bennett’s economic plan. Similarly, New Hope's Gideon Saar is appealing to Likud supporters that want change but don’t trust Bennett not to join a Netanyahu-led government. 2/8 NEW from Fathom Journal Eight Israelis explain their vote: Fleur Hassan-Nahoum - Likud Emmanuel Navon - New Hope Shraga Alweiss - Yamina MK Oded Forer - Yisrael Beytenu Terry Newman - Yesh Atid Peter Lerner - Labour Ittay Flescher - Meretz Guli Dolev-Hashiloni - Joint List Israel Democracy Institute President Yohanan Plesner argues the ongoing political crisis shows that the system is broken and provides recommendations for strengthening Israel’s democracy.
    [Show full text]
  • Emmanuel Navon Brings to Life Israel's Challenges, Successes In
    Jerusalem Post Israel News Emmanuel Navon brings to life Israel’s challenges, successes in epic book The book retraces the Jews’ interactions with other nations, from the ancient Kingdom of Israel to the modern State of Israel today, Navon writes. By SETH J. FRANTZMAN APRIL 22, 2021 01:56 CHINESE PRESIDENT Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands in Beijing in 2017. Navon’s book addresses Israel’s complex relations in Asia and elsewhere (photo credit: ETIENNE OLIVEAU/POOL/REUTERS) Advertisement ₪67 ₪299 Listen to this article now 05:27 Powered by Trinity Audio In 1981 prime minister Menachem Begin had high hopes for the Reagan administration. The new US president had come to office with a robust agenda to confront the Soviet Union. This would be good for Israel because with Iran now hostile to the West, the US would want to work closely with Israel on regional issues. “Yet, Begin overestimated the change,” writes Emmanuel Navon, author of The Star and the Scepter: A Diplomatic History of Israel. “In 1981 the Reagan administration signed a ‘Memorandum of Understanding on Strategic Cooperation’ with Israel, an agreement that established joint military exercises.” This helped anchor US-Israel cooperation. However, even though the US wanted Israel to help deter the Soviets through this agreement, the US was also selling advanced AWACS fighter jets to Saudi Arabia. “Israel was concerned by America’s delivery of technologically advanced fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, an Arab country officially at war with Israel.” US interests in the Middle East did not rely on Israel alone, the author writes.
    [Show full text]
  • Israel Election (2021) Special ‘Who I Am Voting for on 23 March’
    Israel Election (2021) Special ‘Who I am voting for on 23 March’ CALEV BEN-DOR INTRODUCTION FLEUR HASSAN-NAHOUM ‘WHY I AM VOTING FOR LIKUD’ TERRY NEWMAN ‘WHY I AM VOTING FOR YESH ATID’ EMMANUEL NAVON ‘WHY I AM VOTING FOR NEW HOPE’ PETER LERNER ‘WHY I AM VOTING FOR LABOUR’ MK ODED FORER ‘WHY I AM VOTING FOR YISRAEL BEITEINU’ GULI DOLEV-HASHILONI ‘WHY I AM VOTING FOR THE ARAB JOINT LIST’ SHRAGA ALWEISS ‘WHY I AM VOTING FOR YAMINA’ ITTAY FLESCHER ‘WHY I AM (RELUCTANTLY) VOTING FOR MERETZ’ 1 Indispensable reading for anyone who wishes to understand Middle Eastern politics; well researched, balanced, deeply committed to Israel but equally reading to ask tough questions about its policies; a unique combination of values and realpolitik. Shlomo Avineri, Professor of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Fathom is a great publication that I thoroughly enjoy and always find useful. Hussein Agha has been involved in Palestinian politics for almost half a century. He was an Academic Visitor at St. Antony’s College, Oxford and is co-author of A Framework for a Palestinian National Security Doctrine. Fathom’s great: accessible and expert analysis on strategic, cultural and economic issues relating to Israel. Amidst a lot of a sloganeering, Fathom provides nuanced discussion. As such, it fills a real gap. Amnon Rubinstein, Israeli law scholar, politician, and columnist. A member of the Knesset between 1977 and 2002, he served in several ministerial positions. The importance of the Israel/Palestine conflict for world peace is sometimes exaggerated, but for those of us focused on the conflict, for those of us who hope for peace here, even amidst the surrounding chaos, ‘two states for two peoples’ remains the necessary guiding idea.
    [Show full text]