Though my father’s attitude went down well in Pakistan, it had caused considerable tension between us. I am half-Indian, raised in Delhi by my Indian mother: India is a country that I consider my own. When my father was killed by one of his own bodyguards for defending a Christian woman accused of blasphemy, we had not spoken for three years. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304911104576445862242908294.html Read more

Jose Maria Aznar A Palestinian “government” of a unilaterally established, self-declared “Palestinian state,” in which Hamas is a member of the governing coalition, will make negotiations, much less a peace agreement, impossible: no negotiation is possible, and no agreement is possible, when one side is committed to the other’s destruction. http://www.jidaily.com/63vp/e Read more

If the “peace process” ever produces a peace agreement, Beitar Illit and Karnei Shomron will remain part of Israel. In January, the Washington Institute produced a detailed study, entitled “Imagining the Border,” mapping out a deal in which Israel keeps 80 percent of the settlers while annexing 4.73 percent of the West Bank — including Beitar Illit and Karnei Shomron — creating a contiguous Palestinian state with a 1:1 land swap. Neither Beitar Illit nor Karnei Shomron is an “obstacle... Read more

Elliott Abrams In other words, the argument is that if Israel is a “Jewish state” it will certainly, unavoidably, necessarily discriminate against non-Jews. The problem with this debating point is that those who use it apply it only to Israel; no one ever voices any concern about states based on Islam and discriminating in favor of Muslims. http://blogs.cfr.org/abrams/2011/07/14/can-israel-be-a-jewish-state/ Read more

David Mills Michele Bachmann was once committed to bigotry. Or so claims The Atlantic’s Joshua Green in what seems to be an attempt at the classic “gotcha” article. (Republicans had attacked Barack Obama for his pastor’s rants, and now one of their own has been embarrassed by her religion.) Green doesn’t get her, but she still needs to explain herself, because even the finer points of a candidate’s theology matter, though even religious politicans don’t want to admit it. http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2011/07/michele-bachman-the-anti-christ-and-the-political-theologian/david-mills Read more

Matthew Franck In Plato and Huxley these lies are recognized as such, and made to serve a particular purpose: the quest for perfect justice in Plato or the quest for perfect peace in Huxley. But our society considers these lies to be truths that are indispensable in the quest for perfect freedom. The record of broken communities, broken families, and broken human beings is apparently no deterrent to this quest. http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2011/07/the-politics-of-the-family-and-the-lies-our-culture-tells Read more

What made Greece, long a pro-Arab country with a history of anti-Semitism and a notoriously soft line on terrorism, stop political activists from sailing a flotilla to Gaza? What led Greece to rush fire-fighting helicopters to the Mt. Carmel fire? Why do many observers expect to see more Greek-Israeli cooperation not only in defense and diplomacy, but also in culture, tourism, business, and development of solar and water-saving technology? http://www.jewishideasdaily.com/content/module/2011/7/15/main-feature/1/a-tale-of-two-nation-states/e Read more

While they are by no means practising Jews, and certainly do not identify as such, their religious education has left an indelible impression on them. They never quite shake the language and world-view of the Orthodox Jew and often say they can identify another datlash as soon as he or she opens his or her mouth. They retain some religious habits — anything from an intensive Seder night to saying a blessing after using the toilet – and often hang-ups,... Read more

Uwe Siemon-Netto No self-respecting newsman will shed a tear over the demise of The News of The World, London’s reprehensible Sunday paper whose reporters behaved like a combination of KGB spooks and Mafia thugs for years. These weren’t journalists. Professional journalists don’t tap other people’s telephones; nor are professional journalists vile bigots stirring their readers’ hatred of foreigners, which was another News of the World specialty. (more…) Read more

William E. Simon Jr. & Matthew J. Franc Recently, however, Ocasio, the cemetery’s Obama-appointed director, has been credibly accused of engaging in a pattern of censorship directed against private religious expression. The chapel has allegedly been closed, its cross and Bible removed, and it is now said to be used as a “meeting space” when it is unlocked at all. The carillon in the 75-foot bell tower no longer tolls on a regular basis. And members of the Veterans of... Read more