Ira Chernus

Ira Chernus is professor of religious studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, author of Monsters To Destroy: The Neoconservative War on Terror and Sin, and a Foreign Policy in Focus contributor. Read more of his writing on Israel, Palestine, and the U.S. on his blog.

Israel’s Strategy and America’s Mythology

Bombs are falling and people are dying in Gaza. It’s headline news in America’s mass media. As usual, though, we get only today’s events, with no historical context to explain what’s really going on and why. The crucial piece of history our mass media ignore is that one basic principle has always guided Israel’s foreign … Continue reading “Israel’s Strategy and America’s Mythology”

Netanyahu Tries to Scuttle Peace Talks Again

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has once against scuttled a chance for progress in the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process. You didn’t know? Don’t feel bad. It all happened so quickly that hardly anyone noticed it – except in Ramallah, where the Palestinian Authority has its offices. There they know all too well what happened, and … Continue reading “Netanyahu Tries to Scuttle Peace Talks Again”

Zionist Joke: What Have We Ever Done to Them?

There’s one big difference I’ve noticed between the political Left and Right. Even in the worst of times, lefties have a sense of humor. So I wasn’t surprised to see the grand old man of the Israeli Left, Uri Avnery, sum up his government’s galling attack on the Gaza flotilla with an old Jewish joke. … Continue reading “Zionist Joke: What Have We Ever Done to Them?”

Obama Ignores His Own Security Strategy

On May 27, President Obama released his first National Security Strategy (NSS), the congressionally mandated statement of America’s overarching vision of national security and how to achieve it. You didn’t know? Don’t feel bad. Hardly anyone else was paying attention either. In fact, the president himself held a press conference on the morning that the … Continue reading “Obama Ignores His Own Security Strategy”

Olmert’s Folly?

Israel’s recent response to actions by Hamas and Hezbollah has raised alarms in the region to a higher level than in any time since the Yom Kippur War of 1973. Rather than strengthen Israel’s security, it might well have weakened it by setting the stage, perhaps irreversibly, for a protracted conflict with various groups in … Continue reading “Olmert’s Folly?”

‘Taking Out’ Iran’s Nuclear Facilities: Not So Fast

Military actions were once taken only after careful war-gaming, which sought to elucidate likely and even not-so-likely responses from the other side. Today, as the bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities looms, it seems the moral certainty that defines the administration has obviated that part of the foreign policy process. What’s right is right – regardless … Continue reading “‘Taking Out’ Iran’s Nuclear Facilities: Not So Fast”