On Iran

And each time a new sentence is handed out, each time new arrests are made, each day that news of the growing economic hardships are made known, we feel very sad  that we have failed you all; that we have again failed. Yet we must survive this failure and all the pain, because it seems that we simply cannot win.

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Thanking Mr. Trump for making US politics so much more transparent than many US Presidents before

Mr. Trump, you threaten North Korea with annihilation because they have developed nuclear weapons. You threaten Iran with fates such as Iraq and Afghanistan which is not much better – because we have accepted not to develop nuclear weapons and have agreed to undergo rigid inspections. Iranians have a joke about such tactics.

With concern for the  wellbeing of the Iranian people as well as Americans, we hope that they reach out to one another and that together they may pave another path of national development, each for and using the resources of their own people and country.

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Iranians Smell Shortsighted Hypocrisy in Targeting by Trump and His Mideast Hosts

The Iranians are observing the President’s regional trip with a raised eyebrow. Viewed from Iran, the administration’s words and actions in Riyadh seem hypocritical. Standing next to Saudi FM Adel al-Jubeir, who represents a country that puts Tehran to shame when it comes to human rights violations, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson only had eyes for Iran, calling for it to respect “the rights of Iranians to freedom of speech, to freedom of organization, so that Iranians can live the life that they deserve.”

Meanwhile, Iranians were quick to point out, that unlike Saudi Arabia, their country had held elections, rejected hardliners, and one of its poorest provinces had elected hundreds of female city and village councillors.

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Washington can’t solve the identity crisis in Middle East nations

Against this reality, all the criticism of President Obama concerning his minimalist approach toward the region seems misplaced… the president’s instincts on the politics of the region are largely correct. When people are engaged in high-stakes struggles over basic questions of identity, citizenship and nationalism, it is up to them and their leaders to discover a formula that will make their societies successful. Read More

As a Jew living in America, the past days have changed me forever

There are parts of me right now that feel defeated. Yes, there have been calls for peace and the denouncing of extremism in Israel, but such calls feel as though they have been drowned out by those still craving revenge. And as Shalev notes, this isn’t an isolated incident – this is the result of a real shift in Israeli society concurrent with the ongoing occupation. Read More