A new poll released this week by McLaughlin and Associates shows that Americans understand better than Congress that Iran is a serious a threat to our national security and is a dangerous actor amongst its neighbors. According to Joel Rosenberg’s Weblog, the poll found: Nine in ten voters (91%) say that Iran supplying a nuclear umbrella for terrorists is a serious threat to the United States. Seven in ten voters (71%) say the United States will not be safe with a nuclear Iran. Eight in ten voters (80%) say it …
Israel’s elections yesterday sent a mixed message. On the one hand the centrist Kadima party managed to squeak by with a narrow victory over the conservative Likud party by winning 28 seats to Likud’s 27 seats in Israel’s 120 seat parliament. On the other hand, the Israeli electorate shifted to the right, with the Likud-led nationalist camp increasing its strength to 65 seats from 50 and Kadima and left wing parties collectively falling to 55 seats from 70. This will make it difficult for Tzipi Livni, the Kadima leader, to …
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has called for meetings between the Israeli leaders and “Palestinian factions” as well as a ceasefire in the Gaza conflict. According to the CNN article, the Egyptian President “said the discussions would focus on avoiding an escalation of the violence, securing borders between Israel and Gaza”. The U.S. has supported Israel’s right to defend itself and respond to the terrorist threat of Hamas. It is important to remember that a cease-fire without being lasting and stable is catering to Hamas’ pledge to destroy Israel. Heritage Foundation’s …
Heritage Senior Research Fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs James Phillips on what principles should guide U.S. policy regarding the Gaza crisis: A cease-fire agreement must include and immediate and permanent end of rocket attacks by Hamas and other extremist Palestinian groups. A return to the status quo ante, in which Hamas felt free to launch rockets at Israeli civilians while hiding among Palestinian civilians, is unacceptable. Legitimizing the false moral equivalence between terrorist attacks aimed at murdering civilians and counter-terrorist actions taken by a democratic government to protect its citizens …
Hamas once again has provoked a crisis with Israel to advance its revolutionary agenda by exploiting the misery that its own policies have forced upon the Palestinian people and blaming Israel for everything that has happened. Hamas ended the six-month ceasefire (that it never fully enforced anyway) and resumed its indiscriminate bombardment of Israeli civilians, while its terrorists hid among Palestinian civilians. The sad truth is that Hamas and other Palestinian extremist organizations are more interested in killing Israelis than in protecting the interests of their own people. As long …
