No Run-of-the-Mill Islamists

Hezbollah and Hamas have been capturing the world’s headlines for nearly 30 years. These two notorious organizations share more than just an enemy in Israel and an ally in Iran. Hezbollah has also served as a model for Hamas, with similar political structures, terrorist and military tactics, propaganda apparatuses and social welfare systems. Cooperation between the two organizations burgeoned in 1992, when Israel expelled more than 400 Palestinians to the southern Lebanese border, where they met with and learned from Hezbollah operatives. After intense international pressure, Israel eventually allowed those Palestinians to return to their homes. And when they did, they brought with them new lines of communication, further training, and a deadly new tactic: the suicide bomb. Since that time, both Hezbollah and Hamas have matured greatly. To call them just “terrorist organizations” does not do them or their victims justice; these are not your run-of-the-mill Islamist terrorists. Today the groups are major political players in Lebanon and Gaza, respectively. With help from Iran, Hezbollah in particular has influence and power projection in many regions around the world. Both organizations cunningly use their political, military and religious might to remain in control and to combat their domestic opponents... Click here to read the entire op-ed at The Forward

The Trouble with Syria

It's been over 16 months since the "Arab Spring" first reached the shores of Syria. 16 months of gun battles, defections and condemnations that have slowly loosened the iron grip of the ruling Assad regime. With heavy fighting in the capital of Damascus, and with much of the country now in the hands of opposition forces, it would appear as though one of the most authoritarian regimes on earth is on its way to total collapse. For many people around the world, that country's civil war might not appear to have particular significance for them. Yet the troubles in Syria could quickly escalate, causing very real consequences felt worldwide...

Click here to read the entire op-ed at the Huffington Post

Never Underestimate Israeli Ingenuity

As the battle of both words and deeds heats up between Iran and the west, some experts have begun to question whether Israel even truly has the capability to effectively strike Iran's nuclear facilities. A recent assessment by American defense officials, for example, outlined the difficulties that Israel's air force would have in conducting an attack on Iran. Other analysts have claimed that Israel is creating a disinformation campaign about its capabilities in order to deter its adversaries. The truth, however, is that Israeli ingenuity has proven itself time and again, with Israel's enemies consistently regretting when they have underestimated Israeli military capabilities.

Read the entire article here.

Withdrawing Honorably from Iraq

"You have offered us independence; we never asked for it, nor dreamed of such a thing 'til you put the idea into our heads. For hundreds of years, we have lived in a state as far removed from independence as it is possible to conceive; now [that] we have asked for it, you imprison us." Those were the words uttered by an Iraqi sheikh, not in 2011, but around 1920, when the mighty British Empire ruled his land. A rebellion had erupted, and the British government came under considerable pressure from its own population to withdraw. Although order was ultimately restored, the message remained: find a way out of Iraq...

Read more in The Huffington Post