Recommended Reading

22.05.2013 Can Think

The word "image" comes from Genesis

Due to a series of events that demostrated the widespread racism among youth, Assaf David calls on the religious-Zinoist youth movements and educators to take resposibility, or at least stop claiming that such incidents are rare.

12.05.2013 The Atlantic

Why Kerry Was Wrong on the Two-State Timeframe

Avner Inbar of Molad takes on the "irreversibility" thesis — that settlement growth functions as a permanent impediment to two states — and and reminds the American Secretary of State, John Kerry that "alarmism about the impending end of the two-state option is a self-fulfilling prophecy."

10.05.2013 Open Zion

Dani Dayan and the Arab Peace Initiative

Molad analyst Avishay Ben Sasson-Gordis takes Dani Dayan to task for a piece he wrote last week and argues that the recent statements by the Qatari PM accepting land swaps as a part of Arab Peace Initaitive is not interesting or new in and of itself: What is new is the statements' timing.

09.05.2013 Mother Jones

The Social Network

A group of progressive U.S. organizations have announced a two-week freeze on purchasing advertisement on Facebook, in protest of tactics employed by a new lobby group led by Mark Zuckerberg, the social network's founder. The lobby, FWD.org, seeks comprehensive immigration reform, but has wound up backing projects like the Keystone XL pipeline for political reasons.

03.04.2013 Wired

Tennessee Invasion

The Georgia State Legislature recently decided to sue the State of Tennessee for a piece of land on the river that hasn't been controversial since the Civil War. Influential security blogger Andrew Exum draws up a battle plan as a military defense strategy for Tennassee against the "impending invasion" from the South. A serious piece full of humor.

25.03.2013 Haaretz Magazine

Liberalism in a Jewish State

Eva Illouz writes about one Friday morning when she moved from reading Sayed Kashua's weekly Haaretz columnn to listening to a Molad lecture by Moshe Habertal. These experiences frame her thoughts on the differences between liberalism, democracy, and liberal democracy — and how Israel stacks up on each.

18.03.2013 NYTimes Mag

Is This Where the Third Intifada Will Start

The New York Times magazine wasks us through the battle for Palestinian liberation in Nabi Saleh over the last year. He gives an up-close description of the cycles of protest and violence in the West Bank through the political deadlock.

06.03.2013 The New Republic

Where the Peace Talks Really Happen

Efraim Halevy writes how diplomatic relations between Egypt, Hamas, Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia are perhaps not as moribund as they may seem at first glance. Though hushed, conversations are going on in the region that may spark some hope.

13.02.2013 Wonkblog

A Leader With a Vision

Democrats may no longer control the American House of Representatives but Obama's amitious State of the union shows us that he wants the White House to set the terms for the next four years, whether that means vast infrastructure investment, higher taxes, or stricter gun control. In this vision, says Wonkblog, "America would be a markedly different country".

10.02.2013 TIME Magazine

In Flight From the Ground

Lev Grossman, writing for TIME, gives an excellent depiction of the history and evolution of unmanned arial vehicles (UAVs), which are increasingly assigned both military and nonmilitary roles. The American debate on these issues — the use of technology in warfare, the ease with which drones kill, etc. — can raises interesting questions for Israel, which has operated UAV for years.

30.01.2013 New York Review of Books

Back to the British

Professor Avishay Margalit, a Molad Senior Fellow, reviews Hadara Lazar's book Out of Palestine: The Making of Modern Israel, and paints a fascinating picture of the relative benevolence of British colonizers, especially when compared to the current regime of occupatoin which does something the British never tried: threaten to disinherit those it rules.

28.01.2013 Can Think

What Abbas Said on Lebanese TV

Last Friday Mahmoud Abbas gave an interview to the Lebanese television network Al-Miadin. Elchanan Miller explains the Palestinian president's position: He comes across as both defensive of Palestinian national interests and aspirations while still demonstrating the understanding that, ultimately, there is no choice but to compromise with Israel on some of the most important issues.

24.01.2013 Can Think

Towards a Renewed Moderate and Radical Islam in Tunisia

Two years after the Tunesian Arab Spring, radical Salafi-Islamist elements are broadening their goals and widening their impact, looking not only towards liberalization but towards a moderate Islamisim. Dr. Nimrod Horwitz from "Can Think" suggests the challenges such a moderate Islamist regime would face and analyzes the direction it might take as a result.

16.01.2013 Think Tasty, It'll Be Tasty

Where Lies the Loyalty of Israel's Treasury Officials

His private blog, "Calcalist" writer Saul Amsterdamski paints a bleak picture of what will happen as high-level officials ignore mid-level workers in the Ministry of Finance as they warn against the emerging gap between forecasted and actual state revenues. According to Amsterdamski's sources, senior officials "ignored the numeric data, or rejected them, and cooperated with the will of the political leadership to project stability and control."

14.01.2013 The New Yorker

Assaf Sharon on the "irriversiblity" thesis

The New Yorker quotes the Molad's Academic Director, Dr. Assaf Sharon, as he attacks the "irreversibility" thesis. Sharon explains that if the government were to decide to remove settlements it could certainly do so — most of the settlement project is simply not self-sustaining. The article itslef is a powerful overview of Naftali Bennett's ascendance in Israeli rightist politics.

07.01.2013 The National Interest

The US Doesn't Have a Hasbara Problem Either

U.S. national security expert and 28-year CIA veteran Paul Pillar takes Molad's recent report and applies its findings the the United States. He concludes that the United States tends to have a policy problem, not a "hasbara [public diplomacy] problem"

02.01.2013 Salon

Why I Stopped Being Right Wing

Michael Lind, co-founder of the New American Foundation, a Washington-based think tank, explains why he abandoned the American right. Lind traces the rise of the messianic religious right, the neoconservative New American Century right, and the utopan libertarian right of today. He wonders what will come next, and reminds us that "a sane society can never have too few utopian movements or too many reformist campaigns."

01.01.2013 Newsweek

Gas Prices and Putin's Day of Jugement

Vladimir Putin, a man who incontestably sits at the helm of the Russian state, has been held aloft for the last decade by rising oil and gas prices. With them came the promise of stability and economic growth. But a drop in gas and oil prices foreshadow hard times ahead for the Russian president, and potentially Russia's reputation as an "energy superpower".

31.12.2012 The Globe and Mail

The Elections that Will Define 2013

The widely-read Candaian daily "The Globe and Mail" reminds us that the official narrative of 2013 will be shaped at the ballot box. Israel is included in a list of influential countries soon to hold elections whose outcome will reflect the disconnect between our stagnant electoral choices and an ever-dynamic political sphere. The article notes that a strong right bloc of a potential Likud Beiteinu-Jewish Home coalition "might finally trigger a shift back to moderation" in Israeli politics.

30.12.2012 Can Think

On Existential Zionism and Religious Zionsm

Dror Ze'evi responds to Naftali Bennett's remarks to Ari Shavit about "untrustworthy" secular Zionism. Ze'evi strikes back, reminding us that the essence of the state and culture of Israel was built throught the "existential Zionism" of secular Israelis. Bennett's Zionism, it seems, misses much of Israeli history.

30.12.2012 Haaretz

Israel's Poor International Image Not the Fault of Failed Hasbara

Barak Ravid covers Molad's recent report on "Israeli Hasbara: Myths and Facts". He corroborates Molad's findings by pointing to Yaakov Levy's recent challenge "to explain the Israeli government's conduct in past weeks, even in his dealings with a sympathetic Czech public" and recommends that Foreign Ministry director general Raphael Barak hand out a copy of the report to attendees of the upcoming ambassadors conference.

27.12.2012 openDemocracy

The Egyptian Constitution: What's In and Whats Not

Zaid Al-Ali gives an in-depth analysis of the newly ratified Egyptian constitution. He concludes that the decision does not mean the end for revolutionary hopes, but certainly does mark the beginning of a new era for Egyptian democracy.

25.12.2012 Foreign Policy

Why John Kerry Will Succeed

Blake Hounshell lists the challenges that will face John Kerry as secretary of state and argues that he's an excellent choice; with his political future already behind him, Kerry will be willing to take risks and make diplomatic headway on Iran, Syria, and possibly Israel-Palestine.

23.12.2012 Can Think

A Muslim Sheikh and a Jewish Commentator Walk into a Mosque

Analyst Assaf David takes the Israeli media to task for its one-dimensional reportage of a Tunesian Imam's call for Jewish infertility. The Israeli media jumped on the story without any context, failing to note that local human rights organization had filed a lawsuit against the Imam and that the story had made the rounds in the French and Arabic presses.

19.12.2012 Daily Beast

Chuck Hagel’s Appointment Would Signal a Dramatic Shift in American Foreign Policy

In signaling that he’s likely to select Chuck Hagel as his secretary of defense, Barack Obama is sending a message about his second term. Peter Beinart argues argues for, and outlines Hagel's war-averse vision in the tradition if Dwight D. Eisenhower.

17.12.2012 Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

Professor Chaim Gans Fights Back Against Judith Butler's Critique of Zionism

In her latest book, Parting Ways: Jewishness and the Critique of Zionism, Judith Butler critiques Zionism as a perversion of the Jewish tradition. She argues for a bi-national Israel. In his review of the book, Molad Senior Fellow Professor Chaim Gans argues that Butler's book is philosophically problematic. Gans argues that Butler's claim — that Zionism's most recent iteration and "implimentation" is what makes it immoral — does not make a moral Zionism impossible, and that her binational solution is excessive.

10.12.2012 Keshev

Research from Keshev: The Center for the Protection of Democracy in Israel

In 2002, Israel's eletoral laws were amended to reflect international standards. This required that all information relating to surveys pubished during the election be be submitted to the Central Election Commission and subsequently be open to the public, data which includes information about who comissioned and who participated in the survey. The Keshev Research Center recently revealed that despite this law, not a single survey was submitted to the Committee for review and that there is currenlty no mechanism for enforcing such a law.

06.12.2012 Put the Scissors Down

The Bennett-ustan Plan

Blogger Shalom Bogoslovsky takes apart Naftali Bennett's "Stability Initiative", a political plan for the future of the West Bank. Bogoslovsk refutes the assumptions one by one and shows why each is either outdated, unreasonable or simply wrong, and why implementating such a plan would lead to exactly a binational state. [HEBREW]

04.12.2012 Slate

Want to stop losing friends in the United Nations? Stop insulting our intelligence

William Saletan at Slate writes playfully about how Israel managed only negligible United Nations support when the Palestinians brought their bid for nonmember observer state last week. Saletan explains, among other things, how the Israeli establishment's complaint that Palestinians are taking unilateral moves makes very little sense. Saletan reminds the Israeli government that if they want to be taken seriously, they need to stop insulting the intelligence of the world community.

03.12.2012 Ottomans & Zionists

Egypt and Turkey: The Tyranny of Political Islam

Dov Friedman, a Turkey specialist, argues that, while there is a great temptation to see the actions of political Islamists in the Middle East as solely driven by religion, their motivations are likely more complicated. Such a one-dimensional view actually makes it more difficult to explain some of Turkey and Egypt's actions. Freiedman suggests that sometimes tyranny is just tyranny, even if the tyrant is an Islamist, and we should avoid the temptations of simplified analysis.

28.11.2012 Open Zion

Likud: The Party of Annexation

Molad analyst, Elisheva Goldberg, shows why the post-primary Likud Party deserves the title "Party of Annexation". Writing for the blog Open Zion, Goldberg quotes statements made by the top fifteen members of the Likud Party on annexing the West Bank — comments worth keeping in mind in the days following the United Nations overwhelming approval to upgrade Palestine's UN status to non-member observer state.

27.11.2012 Can Think

No To State Terror? Just Wait for Military Terror

Dr. Assaf David explains how the Palestinians in the West Bank perceived the close of Operation Pillar of Defense as a victory for Hamas, a result destructive to a two-state solution. David describes how, for Palestinians, the operation proved once again that "Israel only understands force." This is all the more true when the Palestinian Authority's political tactics are denounced by Israel as "state terrorism". David warns that "the meekness of mind rampant among the Israeli left will be met by a buildup of the same on the Palestinian right." [HEBREW]

26.11.2012 The Atlantic

Morsi: Lincoln in disguise or another Mubarak

Steve Clemens fields the question of whether Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi's declaration of power necessarily leads to a new autocracy in Egypt or whether Morsi's grab is a much more democratic act than it might initially appear. Clemens argues that Morsi's power grab could be understood as a cleaning out of the old loyalist guard, and his aim, like any new leader's, is to strengthen his position, especially in a society with no democratic heritage. Clemens calls for other Egyptian forces to shore up their positions to create an honest balance of power and on Morsi to demonstrate that he understands that such a balance is essential to the growth of a healthy democracy.

25.11.2012 Truman National Security Project

PLAY: War Game Makes You the Decision Maker on Iran

Truman National Security Project, an American national security leadership institute, has produced an online war game that allows users to stand in the President of the United States's shoes on the day s/he is asked to make a decision on attack on Iran. The choose-your-own adventure model gives players the opportunity to take a number of factors into account, including Middle East regional stability, oil prices, and spreading the U.S. military too thin.

22.11.2012 Dekhnstan Blog

Pillar of Defense: A Call for Liberal Arabs to Speak Up

A human rights activist and exiled Mauritanian blogger Nasser Waddady calls for an examination of the way the Arab world discusses Israel. Against the backdrop of Operation "Pillar of Defense", Waddady condemns the "traitor" label so often stamped automatically on those who dare challenge the righteousness of Palestinian acts of terror or are willing to consider the Iraeli perspective.

05.11.2012 Social Guard

Who Imprisoned the Profits and Who Pays the Price

The Knesset recently approved a law that will give retroactive tax benefits (in billions of shekels) to big Israeli corporations. Yair Koldar analyzes the decision making process on tax reform and shows how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's initiatives as Finance Minister have led to a scenario in which big corporations are not asked to pay full taxes which could effectively finance the government deficit [HEBREW].

25.10.2012 The European

Breaking the Link Between the Welfare State and the Economic Crisis

Martin Eiermann, a writer for The European magazine, examines the charge that welfare polices were key in bringing about the Eurozone financial crisis. This accusation has functioned the cornerstone of Prime Minister Netanyahu's political campaign; he has often pointed to Greece and Spain to promote his right wing economic policies. Eiermann's piece shows how Europe's crises have been used as a political battering ram despite the lack of correlation between such crises and left-leaning economic policies.

24.10.2012 Open Zion

The Partisanship of iVote Israel

iVote Israel is an organization that heps register Israelis with American citizenship to vote in U.S. elections. Although the organization claims to be nonpartisan and to have no connection with any candidate or party, a series of investigations make it increasingly clear that the organization has closed ties to the Republican Party.

21.10.2012 Politico

Painting the Obama campaign as anti-Israel endangers the effectiveness of right-wing organizations across the United States

Pro-Israel organizations in the United States, primarily Jewish and Evangetlical Christian groups, have invested a great deal of effort in telling the American public how dangerous President Obama would be in a second-term for Israel. Politico writers Alexander Burns and Maggie Haberman argue that making Israel the central foreign policy issue of the election to target the Jewish vote is counterproductive. It calls the political effectivness of such groups into question in the event of a Democratic victory. Moreover, senior political figures etsimate that making Israel a partisan issue is likely to harm Israel itself in the long run.

24.10.2012 Freedom House

Outlining US Policy Opportunities in the MIddle East

Stephen McInerney, in part of Freedom House's series of articles featuring experts on human rights issues, argues that due to dramatic changes in the Middle East, the the next American president should move to support democratic transitions and can broaden cooperation with civil society. He outlines the diplomatic policy options available for America in the region.

18.10.2012 Chicago Council on Global Affairs

Comprehensive Survey: In the US, Republicans are more inclined to attack Iran and desire more support for Israel

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs put out an extensive survey that analyzes American's attitudes on foreign policy. The survey found that a great many Americans see a nuclear Iran as a critical threat (64%) to US security while their preference is to deal with it diplomatically. Republicans tend to side unconditionally with Israel when asked, yet such support falls across the political map as respondents' age decreased.