Author Archives: Soccerdad

About Soccerdad

I'm a government bureaucrat with delusions of literacy.

Cohen’s rectification

Two years ago during Israel’s war against Hezbollah, Richard Cohen wrote one of the most offensively stupid op-eds imaginable. He wrote that Israel was a mistake. I and others criticized his ahistorical vision. Today, Cohen has an op-ed that is … Continue reading

Posted in Israel | Tagged , | 1 Comment

In Israel’s defense

William Kristol in “Why Israel Fights,” may be excessively optimistic. However he makes a point that seems lost on most analysts of the current war against Hamas. And, of course, not all military efforts against terror fail. Recall Israel’s incursion … Continue reading

Posted in Israel | Tagged | 5 Comments

Status quo ante 1967

John Bolton argues that the two-state solution is dead for now. Let’s start by recognizing that trying to create a Palestinian Authority from the old PLO has failed and that any two-state solution based on the PA is stillborn. Hamas … Continue reading

Posted in Israel | Tagged | 3 Comments

Saving Hamas by diplomacy

Shortly after Hamas won the PA elections, nearly three years ago, the Washington Post ran an editorial, Hamas’s Choice. The editors of the Post wrote: Many Palestinians who voted for Hamas don’t support the Islamists’ fundamentalist agenda: Polls show that … Continue reading

Posted in Israel, Media Bias | Tagged | 1 Comment

Chipsy tunnels

Tne NYT’s the Lede had an interesting feature on Israel’s attacks on Gazan smuggling tunnels. One man interviewed by Mr. Eranger claims that the Israeli military seems to know the difference between the two kinds of tunnels: Muhammad al-Zarb said … Continue reading

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Overvaluing the street

Anthony Shadid wrote Attacks Further Split Arab Rulers, People for the Washington Post. In it he concludes: The disconnect between policy and sentiment has become a feature of Arab politics, especially in recent years, as U.S. influence has dominated a … Continue reading

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Time Rayyans out

In his dispatch Senior Hamas leader killed, Griffe Witte of the Washington Post reported: Already, the air campaign has made this the bloodiest conflict in Gaza since Israel seized the territory in 1967. Precision-guided missile strikes have taken a heavy … Continue reading

Posted in Hamas, Israel | Tagged | 6 Comments

The moral Disneyland revisited

Twenty years ago Charles Krauthammer wrote The Mideast as Moral Disneyland. (Washington Post, February 5, 1988). What set Krauthammer off was a complaint by Woody Allen about how Israel wasn’t so lovable as it once was. In the middle of … Continue reading

Posted in Hamas, Israel, Israel Derangement Syndrome, Israeli Double Standard Time | Tagged | 4 Comments

The Post improves

After using its editorial pages to criticize and undermine Israeli claims for several days the Washington Post comes out today with two excellent defenses of Israeli actions. First is Ephraim Sneh’s Why Israel is bombing Gaza. Sneh, though a former … Continue reading

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NYT: Hamas upgrades = success / Israel defends = disaster

The NYT today features two articles about Israel’s war against Hamas that are rather revealing. One is Striking Deep Into Israel, Hamas Employs an Upgraded Rocket Arsenal, and the second is In Dense Gaza, Civilians Suffer They are revealing both … Continue reading

Posted in Hamas, Israel, Israeli Double Standard Time, Media Bias | Tagged | 2 Comments

About that ceasefire

While there’s been some talk of a truce between Israel and Hamas, according to today’s NYT, Israel likely to reject 48 hour cease fire plan. The idea of a 48-hour cease-fire emerged from a conversation between Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner … Continue reading

Posted in Hamas, Israel | Tagged | 3 Comments

Roundups and conference calls on Gaza

Jack’s been doing roundups of news about Israel’s war against Hamas. Please check out his latest. On the PR front Israeli officials held two conference calls yesterday. One was a real conference call with bloggers such as Gateway Pundit, Jewish … Continue reading

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Reporter, heal thyself

McClatchy’s terror apologist Jerusalem Bureau Chief Dion Nissenbaum writes about Israel’s military response to the Hamas threat against its citizens by writing: The Gaza Strip has had its fair share of bad days over the years, from the spark for … Continue reading

Posted in Gaza, Israel, Israel Derangement Syndrome, Media Bias | Tagged | 2 Comments

Be very, very skeptical

One of the common memes about Israel’s war against Hamas is that Israel is strengthening Hamas by causing Palestinians to rally around the terrorist group. Of course we heard this for years. It was the reason Israel couldn’t fight Fatah … Continue reading

Posted in Hamas, Israel, Media Bias | Tagged | 2 Comments

Did a Hamas lie find its way into a Washington Post headline?

Noah Pollak observed about a headline in the Washington Post alleging that Israel had rejected a truce with Hamas: But nothing of the sort happened; no truce has been offered by anyone involved, least of all Hamas, and there is … Continue reading

Posted in AP Media Bias, Israel, Media Bias | Tagged | 12 Comments