Author Archives: Soccerdad

About Soccerdad

I'm a government bureaucrat with delusions of literacy.

Negotiation is its own reward

A few years ago Treppenwitz observed: Has anyone else noticed that most civilized countries don’t list any designated ‘negotiators’ among their dignitaries? Last time I checked, none of the EU members, the U.S., nor any top tier Asian nations lists … Continue reading

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Not a mistake but a liberal democracy

I don’t agree with everything that Richard Cohen argues, but his central thesis about charging Israel with apartheid is unassailable: What can be said about others who apply the term to Israel in general? No apology has come from them … Continue reading

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Oh and by the way he was smuggling arms

Ynet reports: Mohammed Nassar, who was an aide to Mabhouh, spoke to Hamas’ al-Aqsa radio in Gaza from Damascus. A transcript was released Tuesday. . . . Nassar says Mabhouh “never stopped thinking about how to fight the occupation by … Continue reading

Posted in Hamas, Israel | Tagged | 2 Comments

Seif at first

The New York Times featured a paean to Libyan pretender to the throne, Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi. While the end of the article explains why a government controlled economy is bad, that part of the article is there to show what … Continue reading

Posted in Israel | Tagged | 4 Comments

Goldstone’s last gasp?

While the UN General Assembly voted to renew its demand that Israel and Hamas investigate themselves as demanded by the Goldstone report, a New York Times report observed: … other ambassadors suggested that repeated resolutions with little effect was more … Continue reading

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Cracks in Hamas’s armor?

One of the mantras of Israel’s critics during Operation Cast Lead last year was that it would only build support for Hamas. I noted at the time anecdotal evidence suggested otherwise. Now the Washington Post is reporting Once seemingly impregnable, … Continue reading

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A riddle wrapped in an enigma and mocked on Facebook

I’ve been skeptical of the ever growing hit team that knocked off Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, but Robert Baer (h/t Powerline) provides an explanation: The truth is that Mr. Mabhouh’s assassination was conducted according to the book—a military operation in which the … Continue reading

Posted in Israel, Israel Derangement Syndrome | Tagged | 3 Comments

Mabhouh’s razor

There’s a concept of Occam’s razor, which explains that the simplest explanation for a phenomenon is likely correct. So why does the hit on Mahmoud Mabhouh keep getting more complicated. Yossi Melman explains (h/t Aussie Dave): The story just gets … Continue reading

Posted in Israel | Tagged | 1 Comment

The marketing genius of Yasser Arafat

In the West an attitude towards Palestinian terrorism developed along the lines of “we don’t condone the violence but you have to understand the Palestinian grievance.” Of course that attitude implicitly excuses the violence it claims not to condone. But … Continue reading

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Weaning Syria away from Iran

Lots of foreign policy sophisticates have told us that the American way forward in the Middle East is to engage Syria and draw it out of Iran’s orbit. Last week the Washington Post editorialized in response to President Obama’s naming … Continue reading

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When fighting terror is an outrage

After the hijacking of the Achille Lauro in 1985, the United States attempted to capture the terrorist responsible by forcing the plane they were on to land on an American-Italian base in Sicily. However, Italy and Egypt were outraged and … Continue reading

Posted in Israel, Israeli Double Standard Time | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Jewish history denial

The New York Times reports Israel’s Plans for 2 Sites Stir Unrest in West Bank. The article is illustrated with a young man throwing a Molotov cocktail and begins: Scores of Palestinians clashed with Israeli forces in the West Bank … Continue reading

Posted in Israel | Tagged | 10 Comments

Not quite at death’s door

No doubt you remember this: Still protesting his innocence and offering “sincere sympathy” to the families of those who died in the bombing, Mr. Megrahi was granted his freedom under the terms of Scottish laws permitting the early release of … Continue reading

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The sophistication of antisemitism

Wilhelm Marr invented the term antisemitism, not as an epithet, but as a sign of enlightenment. The Chief Rabbi of England, Sir Jonathan Sacks explains: We can date the third mutation to 1879 when the German journalist Wilhelm Marr coined … Continue reading

Posted in Anti-Semitism, Israel, Israel Derangement Syndrome | Tagged | 1 Comment

“Gee, I hope nothing happened to him…”

I remember a joke from my youth. Two Arabs in Israel were plotting to kill Moshe Dayan. They tracked him day after day for two months. They noticed that every day he showed up to the same restaurant at 11:30 … Continue reading

Posted in Hamas, Israel | Tagged | 1 Comment