Yoram Ettinger

Reality vs. political correctness

An historical divide exists between short-term convenience and long-term national security. T

Arabs marginalize the Palestinian issue

The Al-Aqsa Mosque controversy has exposed, once again, the non-centrality of the Palestinian issue in the overall Arab order of priorities.

Israel - a cybersecurity powerhouse

According to the June 15, 2017 Wall Street Journal, six Israeli startups (three in the cybersecurity sector) are among the top 25 tech companies, which may be the global leaders of tomorrow.

Obstacles to peace: a politically-incorrect diagnosis

Political-correctness suggests that the resolution of the Palestinian issue is predicated upon a dramatic Israeli land-concession and the establishment of a Palestinian state: the two state solution.

US pressure on Israel? No need to panic!

Can Israel afford to defy US presidential pressure to concede land, which is historically and militarily critical to the future of the Jewish State?

Israel’s economy - persistent defiance of conventional wisdom

In defiance of the jagged cutting edge of the Middle East, the inherent regional unpredictability, uncertainty, instability, violence, brutal Islamic intolerance of the “infidel” and the lack of formal diplomatic relations with most of its neighbors, Israel has displayed a unique level of resilience, steadfastness, stability and creativity.

The Palestinian-North Korean Connection

A thorough examination of the track record of the Palestinian Authority, the PLO, Fatah (all three headed by Mahmoud Abbas) and Hamas is a prerequisite for a realistic assessment of the nature of the proposed Palestinian state and its potential impact upon vital US interests in the Middle East.

The 1967 Six Day War mega-bonus to the USA

The expanded strategic cooperation between Israel, Saudi Arabia and other pro-US Arab Gulf States in 2017 – in the face of clear, present and lethal threats posed by Iran’s Ayatollahs and Islamic terrorism - has its roots in the June, 1967 Six Day War and the civil war in Yemen during the early 1960s.

Secretary Tillerson's political correctness

While the election of President Trump represented a setback to political-correctness, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's interview on May 14, 2017 NBC's Meet the Pressreflected the State Department's political correctness on US-Israel and US-Arab relations, the Palestinian issue and the relocation of the US Embassy to Jerusalem.

Israel’s economy surges against all odds

Intel acquired Mobileye, Israel's auto-tech giant, for $15.3BN (Globes, March 13, 2017) The British equity firm, APAX, acquired Israel's medical equipment Syneron for $397MN (Globes, April 30). The New Jersey-based Becton-Dickinson, the medical equipment giant, acquired Israel's CME for $250mn (Globes, April 5).

Convergence of US-Israel national security interests

In 2017, the national security interests of the US and Israel have converged, in an unprecedented manner, in response to the anti-US Arab Tsunami; anti-US Islamic terrorism; the declining European posture of deterrence; drastic cuts in the US defense budget; an increasingly unpredictable, dangerous globe; Israel's surge of military and commercial capabilities and US-Israel shared values.

Israel - US Relations: a mutually beneficial bilateral bond

Israel is a unique national-security producer for the US, in face of the imminent threats of Iran's Ayatollahs and Islamic terrorism

Is the Palestinian issue a core cause of Mideast turbulence?

Irrespective of - and unrelated to - the Palestinian issue, the Middle East is boiling, firing the 14-century-old Sunni-Shia intra-Muslim confrontation, exacerbating intra-Arab violence in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain and threatening to explode in every Arab country.

The State Department – a systematic blunderer

In 2011, the Department of State welcomed the Arab Tsunami, which has displaced millions of people and murdered hundreds of thousands – and keeps raging - as an Arab Spring, youth revolution, Facebook revolution and a transition towards democracy.

Israel’s economic surge in defiance of adversity

Notwithstanding Israel’s unique challenges of the chaotically unpredictable state of the Middle East, the Islamic and Arab onslaught, the scarcity of natural resources (other than brain power), the UN enmity, the European appeasement of rogue regimes, systematic criticism by the “elite” media and the attempt to boycott, divest and sanction, the independent, non-partisan quarterly, The American Interest, stated on January 24: “This is there is a new name on our list of The Eight Greats, Israel….

A Palestinian state: is it good/bad for the USA?

In 1948, the US State Department’s conventional “wisdom” contended that the reestablishment of a Jewish state would damage US interests, since the Jewish state would be aligned with the USSR, undermine US-Arab relations, intensify regional instability, and would be militarily devastated by its Arab neighbors, thus causing a second Jewish Holocaust in less than ten years.

Can Israel rely on foreign peacekeepers and security guarantees?

Israel is urged to concede the historically and militarily most critical mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria, in return for a US, or a multinational, peacekeeping force, as well as US security guarantees or defense pact.

Israel's security prerequisites in the real Middle East

Israel's security requirements derive from the explosive Middle East, which requires an unusually high national security threshold, due to the 14-century-old intra-Muslim and intra-Arab unpredictability, intolerance, violence, volatility, fragmentation, treachery and the absence of intra-Arab peaceful-coexistence.

Israel's globalized economy sets new records

Israel's economic performance has defied conventional "wisdom," political-correctness and steep geo-strategic, diplomatic and economic odds, transforming seemingly-insurmountable hurdles into boundless opportunities.

Secretary Kerry's suspension of disbelief

The term "suspension of disbelief" refers to well-intentioned subordination of documented-facts and common sense to one's zeal and wishful-thinking: sacrificing long-term realism on the altar of oversimplification and short-term gratification and convenience.