Trump Endorses Controversial, Unprecedented Policy on Settlements Held by Previous Administrations

Support for U.N. resolution calling Israeli settlements illegal made in final days of Obama presidency

Noah Pollak
November 19, 2019 12:30 PM

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Monday that the United States had reversed a Carter administration-era State Department legal opinion calling Israeli settlements in the West Bank "inconsistent with international law." The decision, apparently long in the works, comes days after a ruling by an E.U. court requiring Israeli products made in disputed territories to carry special labels—a decision widely seen as creating a legal pretext for the E.U.'s eventual adoption of boycotts on Israeli goods.

Leading Democrats Call for Conditioning Military Aid to Israel

Noah Pollak
November 5, 2019 4:15 PM

Three leading Democratic presidential candidates recently endorsed a new policy regarding U.S. military aid to Israel: It should be conditioned on Israel embracing policies toward the Palestinians favored by American progressives.

Israel Should Adopt Barack Obama’s Counter-Terror Strategy

Smoke billows from a targeted neighbourhood in Gaza City during an Israeli airstrike on the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave

Noah Pollak
May 5, 2019 5:50 PM

You are not mistaken if it feels like the headlines today are the same as the headlines a few months ago, which were the same as the headlines a year ago, five years ago, seven years ago, a decade ago.

Cheney and Zeldin Were Right to Oppose the Bogus Resolution Against Hate

Noah Pollak
March 8, 2019 2:23 PM

The resolution passed Thursday, nominally against all forms of hate, is a sham that no Republican should have supported. It did the opposite of condemn anti-Semitism—it offered cover for it, exonerated the guilty, drowned it in a sea of PC platitudes, and let Democrats off the hook.

‘Intersectionality’ and the New Anti-Semitism

Noah Pollak
March 6, 2019 9:13 AM

The real Ilhan Omar scandal isn't that a high-profile member of a powerful House committee hates Jews and Israel.

If You Like the Peace Process, Please Don’t Read Polls of Palestinians

Palestinians attend a rally marking the 31st anniversary of Hamas' founding, in Gaza City

Noah Pollak
December 20, 2018 1:43 PM

There is one thing that Palestine obsessives never seem obsessed with: the opinions of Palestinians. There's no mystery here—asking what Palestinians believe exposes a fundamental problem with the liberal approach to the peace process, which is based on the belief that Palestinians are willing to live peacefully beside Israel.

The Laughable Hypocrisy of the Echo Chamber

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and President Donald Trump

Noah Pollak
November 20, 2018 6:17 PM

Remember the neocons? Those promoters of democracy and human rights in foreign policy, adherents of Andrei Sakharov's mantra that "a country that does not respect the rights of its own people will not respect the rights of its neighbors"? The neocons can criticize Trump today. Everyone else is posturing, and their hypocrisy is too annoying to go unnoticed.

J Street Chapters Aiding BDS Campaigns on Campuses

Fueling anti-Israel climate through lobbying, activism

Noah Pollak
June 4, 2018 1:05 PM

Campus branches of the liberal group J Street have been helping anti-Israel activists gain support for student government resolutions calling for boycotts of Israel, according to a Washington Free Beacon review of BDS campaigns on college campuses during the recently concluded 2017-2018 school year.

Making Up International Law For Fun and Sport

Noah Pollak
May 16, 2018 12:02 PM

Media coverage of Hamas's attacks on the Israeli border have been, as usual, a dumpster fire of idiocy and ignorance. Hamas itself now admits that "50 of the 62 martyrs" were card-carrying terrorists. One of the heads of Hamas just boasted to an interviewer: "This is not peaceful resistance." No facts or admissions will intrude on the media narrative, which is that Israel is diabolically slaughtering civilians because Israelis enjoy killing people.

Beware the #Narratives of May

Noah Pollak
May 8, 2018 1:32 PM

President Trump appears set to announce the United States' departure from the Iran nuclear deal, and thus the deal's supporters are working hard doing something they are admittedly very good at: crafting narratives for the media and political class.