diplomacy

State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert addresses reporters at the daily press briefing. (State Dept photo)

Forget Friedman. The State Dept doesn’t know how much of the West Bank is occupied either

While disavowing the American ambassador’s erroneous assertion that only 2% of the West Bank is occupied by Israel, the State Department spokesperson isn’t able to answer how much of the territory is actually occupied. (Hint: All of it.) U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman caused a small stir Thursday by erroneously stating that Israel only…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man September 29, 2017

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry listens as European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini addresses reporters on July 18, 2016. (Wiki Commons)

U.S. abstention is a message to Europe: End Israel’s impunity

The U.S. essentially admitted that its unyielding defense of Israel in the diplomatic arena was a disastrous strategy. With Obama bowing out, Europe will need to act on this lesson. Shortly after the UN Security Council passed its resolution criticizing Israeli settlements on Friday, the U.S. State Department issued a press statement by John Kerry…

By Amjad Iraqi December 25, 2016

IAF fighter jet during an exercise. (photo: IDF Spokesperson)

A vote for the Iran deal is a vote against war

The nuclear deal sets back any Iranian military nuclear program by at least 10 years, and does so without sparking a regional war. That, by itself, makes the deal the best option available. One of the easiest things to forget when discussing the Iran deal is just how inevitable and nearby war seemed for so…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man August 8, 2015

Latest

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry sits across from Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on June 30, 2015, in Vienna, Austria, before a one-on-one meeting amid negotiations about the future of Iran's nuclear program. (State Department photo)

Nuclear deal will usher in an era of Iranian diplomatic engagement

Put aside the details for a moment. The nuclear deal signed in Vienna today will force Iran to act through diplomacy, not violence. The other option? A nuclear Iran that acts recklessly and orders strikes on Western targets. The decision to sign a nuclear agreement with Iran this morning was the right one. At the…

By Haggai Matar July 14, 2015

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks to then Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren, Tel Aviv, April 9, 2013. (State Dept photo)

Why Michael Oren’s diplomatic plan doesn’t hold water

The esteemed historian, former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. and CNN commentator is now back in Israel running for public office, and he has a plan. The problem is it doesn’t align with the facts. By Shemuel Meir It turns out that “spin” isn’t exclusively in the Israel’s prime minister’s domain. Michael Oren, Israel’s former…

By +972 Magazine January 14, 2015

Maori presentation at an NZ Navy base (Photo by New Zealand Defence Force)

Good Lorde! Now we’re fighting New Zealand!

In the world of Israel’s ‘anti-diplomacy,’ anything is possible — including the extremely improbable. There comes a time in every Israeli’s life when he or she must undertake a great challenge on behalf of the Zionist endeavor. This morning I learned that my country has found itself at the center of a diplomatic debacle with…

By Yuval Ben-Ami September 8, 2014

Israeli soldiers stop Palestinians at a flying check-point at the entrance to the West Bank city of Hebron, seen on June 15, 2014. A complete closure was put on the city after three Israeli teenagers went missing near a West Bank settlement. The three, all students at a Jewish seminary, went missing late on June 12 as they were hitchhiking between Bethlehem and Hebron and are believed to have been kidnapped. (Photo by Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)

Reward activism and diplomacy, not violence

Far too many times Israel has mocked peace initiatives and adored violence. Altogether, it seems that the government is about to score major points in the propaganda war, only that each such victory is another step on the path to defeat. As Israeli news outlets moved to live coverage mode over the weekend, I had…

By Noam Sheizaf June 16, 2014

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and special envoy to the peace talks Martin Indyk (State Department photo/ Public Domain)

The diplomatic process: There might be no Kerry proposal

Trying to satisfy Netanyahu’s political needs might result in the Americans ‘missing the moment of opportunity,’ says a former Israeli official. The diplomatic process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority is at a crossroads as the American team, led by Secretary of State John Kerry, is said to be preparing an outline for a final-status…

By Noam Sheizaf March 2, 2014

Facepalm at the Jardin des Tuileries, Paris (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Israel as a public embarrassment

Are the embarrassments Israel’s diplomats produce truly unintentional? They appear to be part of a deliberate policy, intended to promote our sense of isolation. In an episode of the brilliant Danish television series “Borgen” (“The Castle”), Denmark’s fictitious Prime Minister Birgitte Nyborg travels to the imaginary African country of Kharun. Hoping to broker a peace…

By Yuval Ben-Ami August 6, 2013

Shimon Peres, John Kerry and Mahmoud Abbas in Jordan (World Economic Forum / Benedikt von Loebell)

Don’t cheer these peace talks

To register their recent success, Secretary of State Kerry and the Obama administration destroyed whatever was achieved in the last two decades. For the first time since the 1991 Madrid Conference, the starting point for the negotiations are the positions of the Israeli right. The headlines celebrating the fact that “Israelis and Palestinians are talking…

By Noam Sheizaf July 23, 2013

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Israeli ministers Moshe Ya'alon, Yuval Steinitz and Tzipi Livni meet with Secretary of State John Kerry in Jerusalem (photo: Government Press Office)

A recipe for diplomatic collapse

How U.S. envoys (and others) are making their own peace missions fail. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in the final stages of his effort to resume direct negotiations between the two sides. So far, no breakthrough has been reported. In Israel, coalition members are distancing themselves, one by one, from the two-state solution,…

By Noam Sheizaf June 19, 2013

The man who invented the PA calls for it to be dismantled

Yossi Beilin, one of the architects of the Oslo Accords, calls on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to put an end to the ‘fig leaf’ that is the Palestinian Authority. This is as big as an op-ed gets: Yossi Beilin, the Israeli architect of the Oslo process, has published a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas,…

By Noam Sheizaf April 4, 2012

Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals protest checkpoint at Shu'fat refugee camp (photo: Mya Guarnieri)

Ending the occupation: No way around direct pressure on Israel

In previous posts, I have argued that (a) Israel’s security needs cannot be fully met, and that (b) the occupation is the Israeli rational choice – better than both the two-state and the one-state alternatives. For change to happen, there is no alternative to confronting the Israeli public. Last week marked a decade since the Arab…

By Noam Sheizaf April 2, 2012