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July 3, 2008

Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski: A spiritual budget (TOUCHING!)

Jeff Jacoby: Israel still paying for its defeat

JWisdom:: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part IV by Rabbi David Aaron

July 2, 2008

Jonathan Tobin: Appeasers Make Poor Patriots

The Kosher Gourmet By Kathleen Purvis: Slaw, y'all: For BBQs or Sabbath dinner, these southern recipes are something else!

JWisdom:: Rabbi Mordechai Becher: Jewish Rx for A Simpler Life

July 1, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q. I think it's important to leave a legacy to my children. How much should I save towards this end?

Paul Greenberg:A President who is history deficient?

JWisdom:: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Poland's Unique Antisemitism

June 30, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: Remembering the architect of Torah Judaism for the modern world

Abe Novick: Hulk: Still a Jew?

JWisdom: : Putting the Spirit Back into Spirituality, Part 2: The Abandoned Child

June 26, 2008

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Quantum leap to evil

Caroline B. Glick: Victimized families must not be allowed to dictate policy

June 25, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Today in Biblical History: King Jeroboam of Israel prevents pilgrimage to Jerusalem

Jonathan Tobin: Real Friends and Real Enemies

JWisdom: Raping of reason By Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

June 25, 2008

Steven Emerson: Kristof: Never Mind the Terrorists

Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: Mediterranean Flyover: Telegraphing an Israeli Punch?

JWisdom: Rabbi David Aaron: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part III

June 24, 2008

Caroline B. Glick: What were they thinking!?

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Guilty knowledge

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Warping Innocence

June 23, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Diploma dilemma

Jeff Jacoby: A world without children

JWisdom: Rabbi Dovid Gross: Putting the Spirit Back into Spirituality --- Introduction

June 20, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Man: The Crowning Glory of Creation

Caroline B. Glick: Israel's darkest week

JWisdom: We aren't worthy? by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

June 19, 2008

Rabbi Elazar Meisels: The saints who don't come marchin' in

Chris Christoff: Muslim woman demands an apology from Obama after camera snub

June 18, 2008

Jonathan Tobin: Still Dancing Around Jerusalem

The Kosher Gourmet by Steve Petusevsky: Chilled fruit and vegetable soups

JWisdom: Souls Need A Check Up? by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

June 17, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: Baby Einstein

Caroline B. Glick: Bush's rhetoric, Bush's policies

JWisdom: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part II by Rabbi David Aaron

June 16, 2008

Varda Branfman: Bob Dylan, won't you please come home?

Diana West: Academic dares to question the 'religion of peace'

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Positive Backfire

June 13, 2008

Rabbi Berel Wein: Trading manna for whine

Caroline B. Glick: Peace with friends

JWisdom: From the mouths of … by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

June 12, 2008

Michael Feldberg: Meet Paul Revere's pal, the Orthodox Jew who played a key role in laying Boston's cultural and business infrastructure

The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Manweiler: No need to be tempted by Wendy's mandarin chicken salad

JWisdom: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part I by Rabbi David Aaron

June 11, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: What would Hillel say?

Jonathan Tobin: UNRWA and NGOs: The Real U.N. 'Insult'

JWisdom: Sara Yoheved Rigler: Greatness Made Simple: How a momentary decision shifted life's course and destination

June 6, 2008

Rabbi Pinchas Stolper: Revelation: The basis of faith

Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: Mere hours after becoming Israel's new 'best friend' Obama backtracks on status of Jerusalem

Caroline B. Glick: UN choosing to protect rogue nuclear programs

JWisdom: Sameness in difference by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

June 5, 2008

David Lightman: Now Obama wants to be Israel's newest 'best friend'

Obama's remarks to AIPAC policy conference

The Kosher Gourmet By Ethel G. Hofman: Shavous cuisine: Ruby Fruit Soup, Lokshen Kugel with Cheese, Key Lime Curd, Calsone Casserole Frittata with Wild Mushrooms, Sun-dried tomatoes and Olives, Baked Tilapia with Pepper Cheese Cream and Brown Sugar Shortbread

JWisdom: Why a Jewish Jerusalem makes so many nervous by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

June 4, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: A different sort of 'religious broadcaster'

Jonathan Tobin: Misgivings on the Road to Damascus

JWisdom: 44 Years Without An Argument? by Sara Yoheved Rigler

June 3, 2008

Daniel Pipes: Obama vs. McCain on the Middle East

Everything's Relative: There is a crisis growing in Orthodox synagogues worldwide, reveals Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkel

JWisdom: White Facades; Black Secrets by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

June 2, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q: Lie to outsmart discriminator?

He writes the songs that make our souls sing:Gavriel Aryeh Sanders interviews Jewish music legend Ben Zion Shenker; includes stirring, uplifting song

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Of laws and lives

March 22, 2007

J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Dec. 19, 2006 / 28 Kislev, 5767

Iraq Study Group dons blinders when considering Iran, Syria

By Jonathan Gurwitz


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | What does the Argentine judiciary know that the Iraq Study Group doesn't? Last month, federal Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral handed down arrest warrants for former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, former Intelligence Minister Ali Fallahian and five other Iranian officials.


Indictments by Argentine prosecutors accuse the Iranian government of masterminding the 1994 truck bomb attack on a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and wounded more than 200.


The chief prosecutor in the case, reports the Associated Press, alleges that the decision to attack the Jewish center was made in Tehran "by the highest authorities."


Beyond Argentina, a 1996 truck bombing on the Khobar Towers housing complex in Saudi Arabia killed 20 people, 19 of them American servicemen, and wounded several hundred others.

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In 1999, former State Department spokesman James Rubin told a press conference, "We do have specific information with respect to the involvement of Iranian government officials."


Three months before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Justice Department issued a 46-count indictment against one Lebanese and 13 Saudi members of Hezbollah for their role in the Khobar Towers bombing. While Attorney General John Ashcroft didn't go as far as Canicoba in Buenos Aires, he did allow that "elements of the Iranian government inspired, supported and supervised members of Saudi Hezbollah."


And what does the United Nations know that the Iraq Study Group doesn't?


U.N. institutions traditionally coddle Arab despotism. But in the case of Syria, even the Mehlis Commission — created by the United Nations to investigate the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri — couldn't avoid the conclusion that cutthroat assassins infest the highest levels of Syrian government.


On Nov. 21, as the U.N. Security Council was deliberating the creation of an international tribunal to try suspects in the Hariri case, another anti-Syrian Lebanese patriot — Pierre Gemayel — met his untimely end. Maybe the Iranian government has turned over a new leaf of peace and reconciliation under the leadership of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Given his pining for the apocalyptic return of the Hidden Imam, denial of the Holocaust, illicit pursuit of nuclear weapons technology, support of international terrorism and threat to wipe Israel off the map, that metamorphosis seems somewhat unlikely.


Not unlikely enough, however, to be out of the realm of possibility for James Baker, Lee Hamilton and the rest of the Iraq Study Group. The group's report calls on the United States to "embark on a robust diplomatic effort to establish an international support structure intended to stabilize Iraq" that includes Iran and Syria.


And maybe the mullahs' murderous flunkies in Damascus have developed a profound respect for the norms of international behavior, though the Gemayel assassination only a few weeks ago suggests such a development is rather remote.


Not so remote, though, as to prevent the Iraq Study Group from calling on the United States, without preconditions, to "engage directly with Iran and Syria in order to try to obtain their commitment to constructive policies toward Iraq and other regional issues."


Whatever sensible recommendations the group may have made with regard to the disposition of American military power in Iraq, the idea that Iran and Syria have positive roles to play and that American diplomacy — as if it hasn't been employed in the region for decades — can suddenly unleash Iranian and Syrian good will is positively idiotic.


Iran and Syria may indeed be part of the solution to the violence in Iraq. But the constructive or, more accurately, nondestructive roles those nations might play will only emerge after the clear recognition that they are an essential part of the problem of violence in Iraq, the broader Middle East and around the globe.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

JWR contributor Jonathan Gurwitz, a columnist for the San Antonio Express-News, is a co-founder and twice served as Director General of the Future Leaders of the Alliance program at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. In 1986 he was placed on the Foreign Service Register of the U.S. State Department.Comment by clicking here.

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