I thought I’d share the letter I shared with our Honorary Board and Trustee Advisory Council members on the occasion of OneVoice‘s 6th Annual Board Meeting in Jerusalem this last month.. Dear Friends and Board Members, Negotiations for a two state solution are so frail, the mood on the streets so fatalistic, and geo-political conditions [...]
My friend Ian Fisher pointed me to this hopeful story about Amal Carmiya, Arab-Muslim who was accepted as a new member of an Israeli Kibbutz. First ever Arab-Muslim becomes kibbutz member YNET, Arnon Lapid On the eve of Shavuot, Amal Carmiya, an Arab Muslim from Qalansawe, along with four additional families, was accepted as members [...]
Gerald Seib wrote a straightforward, clear, and to-the-point column in the Wall Street Journal on the "would you meet with leaders of rogue states" question haunting Barack Obama – using Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s approach towards Syria as a very good example of how to do things. WSJ By GERALD F. SEIB Israel Offers [...]
As Ami Isseroff points out, it’s not about stopping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, but about stopping an apocalyptic fatalist regime from enslaving a people and a region. It’s not just about one tool, but about the tool-makers and their gloomy designs. Diplomats should keep their eyes on the ball.
Lebanon’s army stood by as the Hezbollah militia rampaged downtown Beirut and attacked the government’s offices. Its alleged rationale? The army was not going to take sides – as if "neutrality" is the call of the day when an armed militia tries to bully and dominate (if not yet overthrow) the democratically elected government. Then [...]
Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah and His Majesty King Abdullah II bin al-Hussein are among the most impressive leaders I’ve ever met. Almost a decade before other dignitaries started realizing that the challenges we face are not between religions or between nations, but between philosophies of tolerance versus philosophies of extremism, Queen Rania and [...]
David Ricardo introduced the theory of "comparative advantage" – advising that each country has the ability to produce a good at lower cost, relative to other goods, compared to another country. Ricardo’s theory advises countries to specialize in the production of goods and services they can produce most efficiently – or with lowest relative costs. [...]
About two and a half years ago I was approached by Zvi Schreiber with a dream he had: to build a hi-tech joint venture between Israelis and Palestinians. I had started joint ventures in the food industry between Palestinians and Israelis and we had a mutual friend, Alvaro Aguirre, who had encouraged Zvi (who was [...]
Bahraini king selects Jewish ambassador Bahrain’s state news agency says that King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa issued a royal decree appointing a female Jewish lawmaker to the post of ambassador. "It is a great honor to have been appointed as the first female ambassador to the United States of America, and I am looking forward [...]
Goldman Sachs reckons consumers are handing over $1.8 trillion a year to oil producers. -The Economist These states include Iran, Venezuela, Russia… No wonder "authoritarian-driven economies" have looked so good over the last few years. No wonder Iran and Venezuela can afford divisive hegemonic policies.