In all likelihood, I will be one of the very first non-Jews expected to swear loyalty to Israel as an ideology rather than as a state. Until now, naturalizing residents, like the country's soldiers, pledged an oath to Israel and its laws. That is the situation in...
Obama Letter Suggests US Not Honest Broker
The disclosure of the details of a letter reportedly sent by President Barack Obama last week to Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, will cause Palestinians to be even more skeptical about U.S. and Israeli roles in the current peace talks. According to the...
Israel’s Arab Citizens Are Not a Negotiating Chip
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, has insisted from the launch of the current peace talks that the Palestinians set no preconditions, while making his own precondition the centerpiece of negotiations. Netanyahu has said talks are futile unless the...
Israel’s Reasoning Against Peace
With the resumption of settlement construction in the West Bank Monday, Israel's powerful settler movement hopes that it has scuttled peace talks with the Palestinians. It would be misleading, however, to assume that the only major obstacle to the success of the...
Israel Makes Meeting Another Arab a Crime
A vague security offense of "contact with a foreign agent" is being used by Israel's secret police, the Shin Bet, to lock up Arab political activists in Israel without evidence that a crime has been committed, human rights lawyers alleged this week. The...
The Secrets in Israel’s Archives
No Room for Arab Students at Israeli Universities
Measures designed to benefit Jewish school-leavers applying for places in Israeli higher education at the cost of their Arab counterparts have been criticized by lawyers and human rights groups. The new initiatives are viewed as part of an ongoing drive by right-wing...
US Arms ‘Bonanza’ in Middle East
Two of the United States' closest allies in the Middle East, Israel and Saudi Arabia, are on the brink of signing large arms deals with the US in a move designed to ratchet up the pressure on Iran, according to defense analysts. America has agreed to sell Saudi...
Suspected Torturer Gets Key Police Job in Jerusalem
A police officer known as “Major George” who is accused of torturing Arab prisoners in his previous role as chief interrogator in a secret military jail has been appointed to oversee relations with Jerusalem’s Palestinian population, it has emerged....
Israeli Settlers Step Up ‘Price-Tag’ Policy
A rabbi from one of the most violent settlements in the West Bank was questioned on suspicion of incitement last week as Israeli police stepped up their investigation into a book in which he sanctions the killing of non-Jews, including children and babies. Rabbi...


