Hudson New York

Hudson Institute is attempting to encourage civil discourse on important issues of our time. However, the views expressed are not necessarily the opinions shared by those at the institute, but reflect a variety of viewpoints that may be controversial and sometimes provocative.

Latest Articles

1. http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/the-female-jihad-1.php

   March 10, 2010 5:00 AM
   by Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens

   The Female Jihad

   As the United States and Europe have slowly come to terms with the grim reality of the Islamist terror threat, comment and analysis on how to deal with it have almost invariably concentrated on angry young males. What has frequently been overlooked is the role played by females on the peripheries of many terror plots in the West. Their involvement has ranged from encouraging their jihadi relatives, ensuring that their will to carry out the operation remains strong until the end, to withholding information from the authorities. Although the West has yet to see its first female suicide bomber, recent developments suggest that such an incident is likely, perhaps even inevitable.

   Osama bin Laden prescribed a role for women in jihad in his 1996 declaration of war against America and its allies:

   Our women had set a tremendous example for generosity in the cause of Allah; they motivate and encourage their sons, brothers and husbands to fight for

   ...
   More »

2. http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/the-european-lobby-in-israel.php

   March 10, 2010 4:30 AM
   by Seth J. Frantzman

   The European Lobby in Israel

   The EU, realizing it cannot get Israel to change its laws through diplomatic means, has resorted to creating an internal lobby - through lavish funding of NGOs -- to get Israel to bend.

   Ever since the publication of John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt's The Israel Lobby there has been much talk of the "lobby." In England mainstream and respectable Channel 4 aired an entire program entitled Inside Britain's Israel Lobby which claimed the "lobby" "owns" the Conservative Party. Amidst all the talk of an Israel lobby in the West, people have ignored the growth of a lobby located in the Holy Land itself, the European lobby in Israel.

   The European Parliament adopted the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) in 1994. This was part of the European Union's broader belief that "democracy and human rights are universal values that should be vigorously promoted around the world." The initiative was supposed to promote democratization through the promotion of "fair and free" elections and mainstreaming "democratic values" through "accountability, transparency and equality."

   In 2007, a subtle change in the name of the EIDHR was made. The word "initiative" was changed to "instrument." This seemingly banal change may be a result of semantic arguments among EU staffers but it puts in words the increasingly meddlesome way the EU has chosen to work within Israel.

   The EU may have realized...

   ...
   More »

3. http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/for-israels-arabs-it-is-not-apartheid.php

   March 9, 2010 5:00 AM
   by Khaled Abu Toameh

   For Israel's Arabs It Is Not Apartheid

   An Arab member of the Knesset who goes all the way to the US and Canada to tell university students and professors that Israel is an apartheid state is not only a hypocrite and a liar, but is also causing huge damage to the interests of his own Arab voters and constituents.

   If Israel were an apartheid state, what is this Arab doing in the Knesset? Doesn't apartheid mean that someone like this Knesset member would not, in the first place, even be permitted to run in an election?

   Fortunately, Arab citizens can go to the same beaches, restaurants and shopping malls as Jews in this "apartheid" state. Moreover, they can run in any election and even have a minister in the government [Ghaleb Majadlah] for the first time.

   In this "apartheid" state, the Arab community has a free media that many Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip envy. Ironically, an Arab newspaper in Nazareth or Haifa that is licensed by Israel enjoys more freedom than the media controlled by Hamas and Fatah, as well as most corrupt Arab dictatorships.

   Ironically, this Knesset member who is complaining about apartheid enjoys more privileges than most Jews and Arabs in Israel. As a parliamentarian, he is entitled to do many things that an ordinary citizen cannot do, thanks largely to the immunity he enjoys as an elected official.

   His parliamentary immunity allows him to enter areas that ordinary Jewish and Arab citizens do not have access to. This Knesset member, for example, travels to the Palestinian Authority-controlled territories which, for many years, have been off-limits to ordinary Israeli citizens.

   This Knesset member also can sometimes even break the law by visiting "hostile" countries like Syria and Lebanon and holding public meetings with Hamas and Hizbullah leaders.

   True, the Arab community inside Israel has long been facing real problems that need to be dealt with urgently. The main problem was and remains discrimination by the establishment, especially when it comes to employment, infrastructure and allocation of public funds and lands.

   Nonetheless, the Arab citizens are not struggling for separation from Israel. Rather, they are fighting for...

   ...
   More »

4. http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/spain-co-who-teaches-anti-semitism-to-kids.php

   March 9, 2010 4:40 AM
   by Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury

   Spain & Co.: Who Teaches Anti-Semitism to Kids?

   Israel's ambassador in Spain, Rafi Shotz, received dozens of postcards -- hand-written, with messages such as "Jews kill for money," "Evacuate the country for Palestinians," and "Go to someplace where someone will be willing to accept you."

   Israel's foreign ministry officials told the Israeli daily, Ha'aretz, that the handwriting appears typical of children six to nine years old.

   "Apparently there are anti-Semitic and anti-Israel individuals who get permission to operate within schools," the official said. "Each time, the embassy has received several dozen postcards from a different school. And it seems as though whoever is doing this is moving from school to school."

   Israeli government lodged a formal complaint with Spain on February 28, charging that anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism are being instilled in elementary students across parts of the country.

   According to sources in the Foreign Ministry, this is an organized campaign by officials outside the education system in Spain who have been given permission to...

   ...
   More »

5. http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/the-trouble-with-deterrence-three-scenarios.php

   March 9, 2010 4:30 AM
   by William Katz

   THE TROUBLE WITH DETERRENCE: THREE SCENARIOS

   Unless conditions change drastically, Iran will have the atomic bomb. Maybe sooner, maybe later, but the Iranians will have it.

   It doesn't matter, say some analysts. Iran can be deterred, as was the Soviet Union. Some say it might even be easier to deter Iran as the Soviets had a vastly greater military capability. The trouble with this argument is that rests on assumptions about deterrence as old as the concept itself, assumptions that often don't hold up.

   Let's assume that the Iranians are completely rational. Under the theory of deterrence, this would mean they'd never use nuclear weapons out of fear that the United States would retaliate and destroy Iran.

   But would we? Consider this scenario:

   The likeliest Iranian target is Israel. If Iran used nuclear weapons against Israel,

   ...
   More »

6. http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/uk-politicians-even-conservatives-embrace-islamists.php

   March 8, 2010 5:00 AM
   by A. Millar

   UK: Politicians (Even Conservatives) Embrace Islamists

   David Cameron, has made it clear that the Conservative party, of which he is the head, has changed. Win or lose the upcoming election, there is no going back. The Tory dinosaurs" are out. The party is now "progressive," "bold" and "radical" - a party of "ideas."

   Yet, its ideas were mostly thought up by Tony Blair's New Labour party. Issues of importance are off the table:

   - In his Spring conference speech last Sunday, Cameron failed to mention uncontrolled immigration even though the island nation (smaller then the state of Oregon) is on track to hit 70 million by 2030.

   -There was no mention of the damage done to society by political correctness.

   - No mention of the European Union, which makes 75-80 percent of laws enacted in Britain.

   - And the "bold" and "radical" Cameron did not address the issue of political Islam in Britain - an issue that is hardly out of the news these days.

   Only the day before Cameron"s speech, the Telegraph published an article revealing the Islamic Forum of Europe's infiltration into Britain's governing Labour party, especially in...

   ...
   More »

7. http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/an-egyptian-court-in-the.php

   March 8, 2010 4:30 AM
   by BlogSpot

   Egyptian Court Acquits Muslim Who Beheaded Christian

   An Egyptian court in the southern city of Assuit acquitted this week four Muslims accused of killing 61-year-old Farouk Attallah on October 19, 2009. In broad daylight and in full view of witnesses, the killers fired 31 bullets to his head before beheading him, in the busy village market place of Attaleen, near Dairout, 313 kilometers south of Cairo. The dead body was then dragged in the street, accompanied by shouts of victory. Free Copts website published a video of the disfigured body (warning, violent graphic content: video).

   The judge presiding over the court on February 22, said that he was not satisfied that the testimony of the witnesses established that the imprisoned men were the killers. After the acquittal of Mohamad, Ashraf, Osama and Ahmad Hassouna, there was jubilation in the court room, with shouts of 'Allah is Great' and congratulations from all Muslims, including members of the state security forces who were present.

   Christians were enraged over the acquittal, since similar cases would result in life imprisonment or execution for a Copt if the victim was a Muslim.

   The verdict came as another wake-up call to many Copts, according to Peter Sarwat, the plaintiff's attorney. "It sends a clear message that Coptic blood is extremely cheap." he told Mariam Ragy of Katiba Tibia Coptic site. "This acquittal will make permanent the present culture of impunity enjoyed by Muslim aggressors against Copts.".

   Sarwat said the ruling was inadequate, as it acquitted the accused but did not say who the perpetrators are. "If these men did not kill, so who killed? The ruling should have referred the case to the general prosecution to present the perpetrators."

   The Court based its ruling on quasi non existent proof, as well as the absence of "positive evidence" testimony versus the presence of "negative evidence" testimony. "The judge refused to take into consideration the testimonies of the dead man's daughter who said she only saw one killer and not four, as well as the testimony of the Muslim man who was wounded in the shootings," said Sarwat. According to media reports, most people who witnessed the shootings in the market place refused to come forward for fear of vengeance from the assailants' family. There were false witnesses who confirmed that the killers were present at work.

   "It is not enough to get a conviction based only on police reports which are full of legal loopholes and weak prosecution investigations," said Sarwat. Legal observers have always claimed that the police purposely deliver to prosecution reports full of inadequacies and loopholes, thereby getting from the courts acquittals for Muslims.

   What prompted the killing of...

   ...
   More »