Blog

Iraqi Parliamentarian Mithal al Alusi (pictured above) contacted me by phone last week to report that political moderates, liberals and secularists in Iraq are increasingly threatened as the United States spurns them in favor of...

I had the good fortune to interview Joan Rivers three times, and to hang out with her once (as press, and then kinda informally). The first time, I had to fight for the interview, and the third (and only in-person) time, I had to fight Joan...

In a phone interview from Iraq last week, Iraqi Parliamentarian Mithal al Alusi thanked U.S. President Barack Obama for his decision to conduct air strikes against ISIS and urged the U.S. President to “make it clear to extremists the...

Earlier today a friend brought to my attention a recent blog post by James Howard Kunstler, a writer on environmental and economic issues. With all the tragic news coming out of the Mideast, I think the analysis of this man – who is not...

Today I am thinking of Israelis and Palestinians, and all the children on both sides who deserve so much better than what they have, especially Palestinian children, because their leaders in Gaza simply do not value these children’s...

Yesterday brought the stunning political news that U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia lost his seat to a Tea Party challenger, David Brat, who accused Cantor of betraying conservative principles on spending, debt, and...

“Israel Apartheid Week,” a movement analogizing Israel to apartheid-era South Africa and calling for blanket boycotts of Israeli products, divestment from companies that do business with Israel, and an end to academic cooperation...

Although I’m a few weeks late, I wanted to mention that actress Scarlett Johansson deserves praise for honoring her contract with Israeli home carbonation company SodaStream. (To recap: she appeared in a halftime advertisement for the...

It doesn’t take a professor to see academic boycott of Israel is just plain dumb

In the aftermath of the American Studies Association’s boycott of Israeli academic institutions, the academic community across the U.S. has begun...

Midtown, New York City–In the wake of President Barack Obama’s announcement on Sunday that Iran will be given $7 billion in sanctions relief and no new sanctions will be imposed on the Islamic Republic, Jewish groups worldwide are...