Alex Safian, PhD

US Maj. Gen. says Israel Has Been “Very, Very Restrained”

Commenting on FoxNews after the Israeli attack against missile launchers in Qana which inadvertently killed 28 or more Lebanese civilians, United States Maj. Gen. Burton Moore, former head of Centcom, stated that contrary to many critics, Israel has been "very, very restrained" in its attacks.

BBC Headline Falsely Charges Beirut Airport “Destroyed”

BBC reports on the Israel/Hezbollah crisis link to a story about a Jordanian relief flight to Beirut with the false and misleading link headline "Mercy Mission: A Jordanian aid mission flies into Beirut airport, which has been destroyed." In fact, as even al-Jazeera reported, the Beirut airport has not been "destroyed" and has suffered relatively minor damage to its runways.

Tony Judt, the New York Times, and the anti-Israel bandwagon

Whom did the New York Times choose to write an op-ed about the controversy over claims by two academics that the "Israel Lobby" distorts U.S. foreign policy to the detriment of U.S. interests? None other than Tony Judt, who has called Israel an "anachronism" which should be done away with.

Will the real John Mearsheimer please stand up?

Professor John Mearsheimer recently coauthored a very controversial study charging that the "Israel lobby" played a critical role in the decision to go to war against Saddam's Iraq, with Jewish officials including Paul Wolfowitz supposedly acting in the interest of Israel rather than the U.S. But just 15 months ago Mearsheimer stated the opposite, saying that Wolfowitz in particular acted in good faith, believing in his "heart of hearts" that "Saddam had weapons of mass destruction and that he was joined at the hip with Osama Biin Laden." In other words, Prof. Mearsheimer has some explaining to do.

Harvard Backs Away from “Israel Lobby” Professors; Removes Logo from Controversial Paper

A widely criticized report by Harvard professor Stephen Walt and University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer that faults the "Israel lobby" for allegedly distorting the foreign policy of the United States to the detriment of U.S. interests, no longer sports the Harvard logos that previously appeared on its front page, and instead carries a devastating disclaimer from the two universities.

Study Decrying “Israel Lobby” Marred by Numerous Errors

A new study by Harvard professor Stephen Walt and University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer charges, with no legitimate evidence and many errors, that the "Israel lobby" has distorted the foreign policy of the United States to the point of serious damage to U.S. interests. (Updated April 3, 2006)

Guardian Defames Israel with False Apartheid Charges

A recent series of articles in the Guardian by Chris McGreal charges that Israel is an apartheid state similar to the old South Africa. According to the paper, "after four years reporting from Jerusalem and more than a decade from Johannesburg before that, the Guardian's award-winning Middle East correspondent Chris McGreal is exceptionally well placed to assess this explosive comparison." Explosive the comparison certainly is, especially because a CAMERA investigation reveals that Mr. McGreal's arguments are uniformly based either on materially false assertions, or on assertions wrenched grotesquely out of context.

CAMERA Primer on Palestinian Elections and Hamas

With Palestinian elections scheduled for January 25th, it is important to recall that under the Oslo Agreements terror groups like Hamas are barred from participating, and that this is a solemn Palestinian obligation under signed peace accords rather than a "unilateral Israeli demand."

Maligning Sharon

In the wake of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's serious medical problems, Op-Ed writers and reporters have published numerous retrospective pieces trying to sum-up the Israeli leader's career. Some are nothing but anti-Sharon screeds, while others, though somewhat more responsible, repeat many of the same discredited allegations that have long been used by polemicists to unfairly malign the Israeli leader.

On NPR, Arab Journalist Rami Khouri Blames Ariel Sharon for Islamism

Rami Khouri, editor-at-large of Lebanon's Daily Star, and a frequent NPR guest, today on the network actually blamed Ariel Sharon for the rise of Islamism in the Middle East. Perhaps Khouri has never heard of the Wahhabis, or the Saudis and their vast oil wealth, or the Taliban, or Sudan under al-Turabi. That being the case, it's too bad for NPR listeners that the network has heard of Khouri, and invites him on so often.