Hamas is new name for old desire to eliminate Israel
May 3, 2006 | Ted Lapkin
While open elections are a necessary component of democracy, they are not its be-all and end-all. Political liberty also requires freedom of speech and religious persuasion, equal rights for women and the guarantee that minority groups will enjoy the same legal privileges as the majority.
Cancer of the suicide bomber
April 26, 2006 | Bren Carlill
THOSE of us who have lost loved ones to cancer tend to grimace a little more empathetically when we hear of someone falling victim to the disease.
Brewing calamity
April 24, 2006 | Ted Lapkin
“The sole method we shall apply against Israel is total war, which will result in the extermination of Zionist existence.” Sound familiar? But these are not the genocidal rantings of crisis-present uttered by Iran’s Jew-hater in chief, President Mahmoud Ahmadinajad.
Israel seen as an asset
April 19, 2006 | Colin Rubenstein
IN his opinion piece on this page yesterday, Antony Loewenstein complains that an “Israeli lobby” in the US and Australia relentlessly campaigns to stifle pro-Palestinian voices through “intimidation and slander” (“Don’t let any lobby shut down debate”).
Israelis have voted to take control of their own destiny
March 31, 2006 | Colin Rubenstein
AS EXPECTED, Ehud Olmert, the leader of the Kadima party founded by Ariel Sharon last year, won a mandate to govern Israel in Tuesday’s election, albeit one smaller than predicted.
Israeli politics swings to the centre
March 30, 2006 | Ted Lapkin
A WISE man once counselled me to avoid the business of making predictions — especially if they had anything to do with the future. And as the dust begins to settle from Israel’s parliamentary elections, enough surprises have emerged to validate the wisdom of that advice.
Middle course for Israel will be Sharon’s legacy
March 25, 2006 | Ted Lapkin
Even by the tempestuous standards of Middle East politics, it’s been one helluva year. Last August, Ariel Sharon upended decades of Israeli defence policy by implementing a withdrawal of forces and settlements from Gaza.
Why we must stop Iran
March 22, 2006 | Colin Rubenstein
UNITED States senator and former presidential candidate John McCain said recently: “There is only one thing worse than the US exercising a military option (against Iran), and that is a nuclear-armed Iran.”
Missed chance to right wrongs
March 22, 2006 | Ted Lapkin
IT was a typical UN decision: a triumph of style over substance that aggravates the problem rather than improves it. Last week, the UN voted to abolish its scandal-scarred Commission on Human Rights. But the Human Rights Council created as an alternative constitutes a cure that is worse than the original disease.
Jihadists would celebrate closure of Guantanamo as a propaganda victory
March 7, 2006 | Ted Lapkin
IT IS A SIMPLE truth of human nature that those who reward anti-social behaviour will end up getting more of it. The feebler the penalty paid for past atrocities, the flimsier the deterrent against future acts of barbarity.
Tears of blood still to be shed
February 27, 2006 | Ted Lapkin
BY what title do you address someone who dispatches suicide bombers to seek and destroy innocent civilians in cafes, restaurants and commuter buses? Well, in Gaza, you may as well call him Mr Prime Minister.
Deterrent force of prison camp is all that militants understand
February 23, 2006 | Ted Lapkin
It is a simple truth of human nature that those who reward anti-social behaviour will end up getting more of it. The feebler the penalty paid for past atrocities, the flimsier the deterrent against future acts of barbarity.
