by Daniel Pipes
[With slight differences from the NY Sun version]
Barring a "catastrophic development," Middle East Newsline reports, George Bush has decided not to attack Iran. An administration source explains that Washington deems Iran's cooperation "needed for a withdrawal [of U.S. forces] from Iraq."
If correct, this implies the Jewish state stands alone against a regime that threatens to "wipe Israel off the map" and is building the nuclear weapons to do so. Israeli leaders are hinting that their patience is running out; Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz just warned that "diplomatic efforts should bear results by the end of 2007."
Can the Israel Defense Forces in fact disrupt Iran's nuclear program?
Top secret analyses from intelligence agencies normally reply to such a question. But talented outsiders, using open sources, can also try their hand. Whitney Raas and Austin Long studied this problem at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and published their impressive analysis, "Osirak Redux? Assessing Israeli Capabilities to Destroy Iranian Nuclear Facilities," in the journal International Security.
Raas and Long focus exclusively on feasibility, not political desirability or strategic ramifications: Were the Israeli national command to decide to damage the Iranian infrastructure, could its forces accomplish this ...   more »

Nearly two years after they were forcibly uprooted from thriving communities, one-third of the Jewish evacuees from the Gaza Strip are still unemployed.
Ripped from their homes as part of former prime minister Ariel Sharon's “disengagement” plan, these “settlers” left behind businesses and farms that were among the most successful and productive in Israel.
The government promised to help rebuild what had been lost, but few of the Jews who once called Gaza home have today recovered financially or socially.
According to Israel's Ma'ariv daily newspaper, 500 of the evacuated families - 37 percent of those uprooted - still rely on aid from charitable organizations to feed themselves. Many more live in a state of constant depression after their tight-knit communities were torn asunder.
Nor has the situation harmed only the evacuees.
Gaza's Jewish communities once provided a highly disproportionate percentage of Israel's agricultural produce. But of the 400 farms and other agricultural businesses that once operated in Gaza's Katif Bloc, only 33 have been compensated with land inside Israel. Some warn that the situation has hastened the day that Israel will be dependent on foreign food imports.
Original Source
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I was astonished to learn that by a majority vote, the Chief Rabbinate recently promulgated a ban against Jews participating in a Christian women's conference "to promote the status of women based on biblical values" under the auspices of the Knesset Christian Allies caucus in Jerusalem.
The alleged grounds for the ban were that the two Christian evangelical groups involved - Bridges for Peace and the International Christian Embassy - were engaged in missionary activity.
Having been directly involved with these groups, I can confidently state that the accusation is absolutely false. The rabbis supporting the ban were influenced by a few misguided zealots who for years have been conducting an ongoing campaign based on the outrageously false allegation that our closest allies, the Christian Evangelicals, have merely created a facade of friendship with Jews in order to convert them.
There are Orthodox Jews closely associated with these bodies who would not countenance transgressing Jewish law. They uphold the position of Rav Joseph Soloveichik who opposed theological dialogue with other denominations, but endorsed joint activities with Christians to promote the Judeo Christian heritage in the broadest social sense, including support for Israel.
It is gratifying that the Jewish organizers immediately ...   more »

It has been 40 years since the miraculous Israeli defeat in six days of the combined efforts of the Arab world to destroy the Jewish state. It was at that time Israeli forces recaptured East Jerusalem from Jordanian control and established sovereign control of their ancient capital for the first time in more than 2,000 years.
But now, 40 years later, the battle for Jerusalem still rages.
Much of what God enabled Israel to gain by that amazing war has been lost through attempts to appease world opinion with foolish concessions. However, world opinion does not take note of the implacable enemy that is still bent on Israel's annihilation. This is proven over and over again by demanding Israel to concede land for peace to a hostile enemy that never reciprocates with the "promised peace."
I believe former Prime Minister Netanyahu correctly summed up what was gained and is now being given away: "That victory transformed Israel from a feeble and fragile country whose existence was questionable, into a state that could not be defeated. … Israel's conquest of the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula in the Six Day War actually brought the region closer to peace by convincing ...   more »