Patrick Lawrence: ‘Innocent Israelis’
Of all the gruesome images and stomach-turning news reports to come out of Israel since Hamas launched its daring attack across the Gaza border last Saturday, one incident stays stubbornly with me. It occurred early on the morning of the…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: 1948 — No Longer Shrouded in the Mists
What we see now is a purposeful program of terror and it is merely the latest, in form and intent, of what Palestinians have endured since the Nakba. The shattering events of the past few weeks in Israel, the West…
THE REVELATIONS OF WIKILEAKS: No. 8—Busting the Myth WikiLeaks Published Nothing on Israel & Syria
One myth about WikiLeaks is that it favors U.S. enemies and declines to publish documents against them, while another legend is that WikiLeaks, for obscure reasons, is soft on Israel, reports Patrick Lawrence. As WikiLeaks continued its document releases, and as major news organizations continued…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: Trump’s Weakness for Power
Coercive might and money may be all that matter in Manhattan real estate. But they are bound to sink the president’s take-all-you-want “deal of the century” for Israel. With the publication of the Trump administration’s Mideast “deal of the…
The Art of No Mideast Deal
Donald Trump once advertised an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan as his greatest achievement-in-the-making, but like many of the president’s negotiations, the Kushner-Greenblatt strategy is a one-sided bargain, writes Patrick Lawrence. Whatever happened to President Trump’s “Deal of the Century”—his promise to…
Bibi’s downfall: Is the most dangerous man in the Middle East done for?
Benjamin Netanyahu has set Israel, and the entire Middle East, on a path toward doomsday. Will his fall matter? The political future of Benjamin Netanyahu is at last in doubt. With the Israeli police report recommending criminal charges against the…
A Conversation With Richard Falk, Part 2
On Israel, Palestine, and his work as a UN special rapporteur. When I met Richard Falk shortly before the turn of 2017 into 2018, I found the scholar, lawyer, activist, advocate, adviser, and writer as kinetically thoughtful and plugged-in as…
Trump’s Jerusalem fumble: If the U.S. is out as a Mideast broker, who’s in?
If the White House hoped to coerce Palestinians (and the world) into a peace settlement, it faces a rude awakening Considering President Trump’s sales pitch when he recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital — “nothing more or less than a recognition…
Trump and Jerusalem: Will his “hard power” realism backfire bigly?
Like much of Trump’s foreign policy, the Jerusalem decision recognizes ugly facts about the U.S. role in the world Clarity is preferable to ambiguity even when the clear picture is grim. So I have found in many circumstances, and so…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: Some Cherry Garcia, Please
The apartheid state’s swoon into freak-out mode since Ben & Jerry’s took its stand tells us all we need to know about BDS’s accumulating power. Cherry Garcia, please, two scoops. No make that Chocolate Fudge Brownie. No, I want Coconut…