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U.S. to Israel: You Decide Nukes in Iran, We Decide Bedrooms in Jerusalem

Am I the only one to note a smidgen of inconsistency in U.S. policy toward Israel?

On the one hand, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on May 27 about Israeli Jewish residences on the West Bank and the eastern part of Jerusalem:

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By  |  July 7, 2009  |  Permalink  |  Comments (0)

Salam Fayyad Says Yes to Jews Living in a Palestinian State

I have long argued that the presence of Jews living on the West Bank does not present a problem to a resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict, for a true resolution would allow them to live peaceably in a Palestinian state. We'll know the conflict has ended, I like to say, when the Jews of Hebron have no more need for security than the Arabs of Nazareth.

So, I read with considerable interest that Salam Fayyad, who calls himself the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority (a title I do not use, by the way), said roughly the same thing at a meeting of the Aspen Institute's Aspen Ideas Festival on July 4.

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By  |  July 5, 2009  |  Permalink  |  Comments (0)

CAIR Distributes 100,000 Korans; Overtly Proselytizes

The Hamas-founded Council on American-Islamic Relations has long pretended to be a civil rights organization, comparing itself at times to the NAACP, but a close look at its record reveals the real CAIR agenda to be – in common with all Islamists – promoting the Shari'a. This can be achieved two ways. The more circuitous method influences American public opinion through the educational system, the media, the arts, the courts, and the political process. The more direct method converts Americans to Islam.

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By Daniel Pipes  |  June 30, 2009  |  Permalink  |  Comments (24)

Conspiracy Theories in Iran's Unrest

"Iran is the world's most conspiracy-minded country" I declared in my book, The Hidden Hand: Middle East Fears of Conspiracy. An entire chapter of that study focused on the Islamic revolution of 1978-79, documenting how "Regardless of political complexion, Iranians interpret the revolution not as an act of will but as the manifestation of mysterious forces. They debate less the causes of the upheaval than the identity of those forces." Another chapter took up the Iran-Iraq war. In both cases, I showed how the conspiracy mentality had a major role in the evolution of events.

And so, as the events of the past month unrolled in Iran – an intense buildup to elections on June 12, the regime's blatant act of electoral fraud, the massive street demonstrations, and the violent crack-down – I watched with special interest the role of conspiracy theories in Iranian political life. To my surprise and delight, their role appeared to be minimal. For once, Iranians were dealing with realities in Iran rather than imagining foreign bogeymen manipulating events in the country.

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By Daniel Pipes  |  June 29, 2009  |  Permalink  |  Comments (7)

Ahmadinejad Threatens Obama

Nearly lost in the exchange of invective between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Barack Obama is the former warning to put the latter on trial. Thomas Erdbrink and William Branigin offer details at "Iran's President Rebukes Obama; Candidates Reject Election Review" in the Washington Post today.

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By Daniel Pipes  |  June 28, 2009  |  Permalink  |  Comments (15)

Quneitra, Why in Ruins?

A small and routine news item today from the Syrian Arab News Agency, "A Colombian Delegation Condemns Israeli Brutal Destruction of AlQunaitra," caught my eye. It tells how Carlos Kaveira Diaz, the head of the Democratic Polo Party in Colombia visited Quneitra, a Syrian town on the border with Israel, and condemned

the Israeli brutal destruction of Qunietira city, southern Syria, expressing his shock over the devastation he saw which exposes the Israeli destructive, occupying mentality. Mr. Diaz described this destruction as unprecedented brutality and terrorism, stressing his country's support to Syria with regards to regaining the occupied territories.

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By  |  June 27, 2009  |  Permalink  |  Comments (0)

Islamists Respond to Michael Jackson

A Pakistani Islamist group, I wrote in 1995, had recently "deemed Michael Jackson and Madonna 'cultural terrorists' and called for the two Americans to be brought to trial in Pakistan."

One Photoshopped vision of Michael Jackson as a Muslim.

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By  |  June 27, 2009  |  Permalink  |  Comments (0)

The National Jewish Democratic Council and Me

Back in February 2008, in the thick of the U.S. presidential primaries, Ira N. Forman, executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, the Democratic party's Jewish outreach organization, castigated me in the Philadelphia Jewish Voice as a "conservative flack," called my writings on Barack Obama having been raised a Muslim "ridiculous and offensive," and characterized my work as a "back-alley political mugging."

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By Daniel Pipes  |  June 26, 2009  |  Permalink  |  Comments (4)

Washington to Tehran: You Can't Come to My Birthday Party

Iranians bravely take the streets by the hundreds of thousands, confronting the police, the Pasdaran, and the basiji thugs of the Islamic republic – and what, other than words, does the Obama administration actually do to respond to these momentous events?

It disinvites Iranian diplomats from the July 4 festivities to be held at U.S. embassies, consulates, and missions.

I kid you not.

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By Daniel Pipes  |  June 25, 2009  |  Permalink  |  Comments (4)

Bibliography – My Writings on the Mujahedeen-e Khalq

Like many other Middle East analysts, I for many years kept my distance from the Mujahedeen-e Khalq, an Iranian opposition group. But I changed my mind in 1993, on receipt of Islamic Fundamentalism: The New Global Threat (Washington, D.C.: Seven Locks Press, 1993) by Mohammad Mohaddessin, a foreign affairs specialist for the organization. His book showed me that the MeK could be a useful and important ally in the common effort against the Islamic Republic of Iran; the fact that the mullahs so fear the MeK makes it only the more attractive to me. And so, for sixteen years, I have vocally advocated that the U.S. government work with the MeK – to little avail, I might add.

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By Daniel Pipes  |  June 24, 2009  |  Permalink  |  Comments (2)

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All materials written by Daniel Pipes on this site ©1979-2009 Daniel Pipes. Email: meqmef@aol.com