Obama must stand up to Netanyahu on Israeli settler violence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Ibrahim Sharqieh - (Opinion) October 9, 2012 - 12:00am My Palestinian driver had reason to worry as we passed near the Israeli settlement Yitzhar in the West Bank. The settlement is notorious for frequent attacks on nearby Palestinian citizens. Only a month earlier, my driver had himself been attacked by a group of settlers with a big rock that barely missed his car. Two miles farther up the road, he reported the attack to an Israeli Army patrol that was in the area. The patrol commander asked if anyone in the car had been injured. “No,” the driver had said. » Read more

Israel-Iran War Not on Horizon ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Linda Gradstein - (Opinion) October 9, 2012 - 12:00am This summer, it seemed that the world believed that an Israeli attack on Iran was imminent – a belief shared in the Jewish state as well. Panicked Israelis rushed to gas mask distribution centers, newspapers published banner headlines speculating on Israeli war plans, and Israel saw a seemingly endless parade of senior American officials trying to convince their counterparts to rethink plans for an attack. » Read more

Hamas in transition ATFP World Press Roundup Article from NOW Lebanon by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) October 9, 2012 - 12:00am The recent exchange of attacks between Israel and militants in the Gaza Strip is unlikely to lead to a broader conflict, but it helps illuminate some of the dramatic changes happening within Hamas. It is yet another indication of the increasing willingness of Hamas factions in Gaza to resume not only countenancing but participating in rocket attacks against Israel. This, in turn, reflects the increasing influence and independence of more militant elements within the organization and their strategy for trying to wrest control of Hamas away from externally-based leaders.  » Read more

Unconditional US military aid fuels Israeli-Palestinian violence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Hill by Kate Gould - (Opinion) October 8, 2012 - 12:00am Amidst another week of deadly Israeli-Palestinian violence, fifteen faith leaders representing U.S. churches and faith organizations have called on Congress to condition U.S. military aid to Israel upon Israel’s “compliance with applicable U.S. laws and policies.” These leaders--representing Baptist, Lutheran, Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, Orthodox, Quaker and other major Christian groups--agree that unconditional U.S. » Read more

Not Trying To Cause A Big Sensation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Jacob Silverman - (Opinion) October 8, 2012 - 12:00am Alan Dershowitz would have been disappointed. Not only did Dershowitz's occasional debating partner, Noam Chomsky, have to cancel his New School appearance on Saturday (laryngitis, we were told), but his adversary, the controversial scholar Norman Finkelstein, was positively mainstream in his own remarks. Those who are quick to vilify Finkelstein—variations on “self-hating Jew” represent the typical charge—might do well to listen again. » Read more

Abandoned ideals ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star (Editorial) October 6, 2012 - 12:00am Saturday marks the anniversary of the October War of 1973, which the Israelis call the Yom Kippur War, while the Arabs have a few additional names for it. Some, like the Egyptians, might refer to it called the Ramadan War, because the month of fasting in which it took place, while the Syrians officially refer to it as the War of Liberation. » Read more

The rights of Jewish refugees ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Oudeh Basharat - (Opinion) October 9, 2012 - 12:00am Regarding the Foreign Ministry's initiative for international recognition of the Jews from Arab countries as refugees, one could apply the statement by Khalif Ali bin Abu Talib: "Words of truth whose intent is falsehood." » Read more

A Truly Credible Military Threat to Iran ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by David Rothkopf - (Opinion) October 8, 2012 - 12:00am In Mitt Romney's "Hope Is Not a Strategy" speech at the Virginia Military Institute, the Republican challenger zeroed in on the current unrest in the Middle East as a sign that President Barack Obama's foreign policy is not working. The most biting implication in the speech is the assertion that al Qaeda is resurgent -- in other words that killing Osama bin Laden, emotionally satisfying as it was, was not the game-changer in the region that the Obama administration has implied it was. » Read more

For the record, 'The Jerusalem Post' is not backing either Barack Obama or Mitt Romney in next month’s presidential elections. ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post (Editorial) October 8, 2012 - 12:00am For the record, The Jerusalem Post is not backing either Barack Obama or Mitt Romney in next month’s presidential elections. As Israel’s top English-language newspaper which prides itself on its balanced news coverage and opinion columns, we are certainly committed to providing our readers with as much material as we can on the candidates and their campaigns. » Read more

The Romney foreign policy speech: Sounds like Bush, reads like Obama ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Chemi Shalev - (Opinion) October 8, 2012 - 12:00am In principle, much of the rhetoric of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s foreign policy address in Virginia on Monday sounded as if it came from the era of President George Bush. In practice, one needed a microscope to differentiate it from the most of the policies pursued in the past four years by President Barack Obama. » Read more