A Dose of Nuance: Prophets and guardians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Daniel Gordis - (Opinion) January 5, 2012 - 1:00am

There is, it seems, a bit of an occupational hazard to this column-writing business. It probably holds for all sorts of topics, but it’s undoubtedly true when thinking aloud about Israel. Here’s the choice: You can either plant yourself firmly on one side of the political divide, being predictably “right wing” or “left wing,” or you can, depending on the issue, say what you think but appear a bit less consistent. The advantages of the first option are clear.

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Is Newt Gingrich good for the Jews?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Marc Lewyn - (Opinion) January 3, 2012 - 1:00am

Newt Gingrich for president? My gut reaction is that he so weighed down by personal baggage that his candidacy will ultimately evaporate. Recent trends in Iowa and New Hampshire suggest that Newt’s campaign is losing steam. On the other hand, he is a remarkably resilient politician, and candidates who lose early primaries often bounce back to win their parties’ nomination.

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Gingrich's words show his ignorance
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Adel Safty - (Opinion) December 19, 2011 - 1:00am

When the Republican presidential hopeful and former US House Speaker Newt Gingrich recently affirmed that the Palestinian people were an invention, he had one thing in mind: scoring cheap points against his rivals. The truth of the matter did not interest him; nor did he show any regard for the impact of such a fantastic proclamation on the suspended peace process, or indeed on his own country’s longstanding policy on the conflict.

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Gingrich’s lie reveals his bigotry
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe
by John. E. Sununu - (Opinion) December 16, 2011 - 1:00am

When bigots speak, their words have purpose. They intentionally choose phrases that inflame, denigrate, and marginalize other races, religions, or nationalities. They employ distortions and stereotypes to bolster false arguments. Which brings us to Newt Gingrich, who in an interview last week derided “an invented Palestinian people.’’ His comments were a calculated — but demonstrably false — slander, designed to curry favor with a constituency for which he cares by insulting one for which he does not.

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No, Newt and JPost, there is no Santa Claus: how national identities are really formed
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ibishblog
by Hussein Ibish - (Blog) December 14, 2011 - 1:00am

What's most interesting about the brouhaha regarding Newt Gingrich's outrageous comments about Palestinians being “an invented people” -- which he then augmented by describing them in general as “terrorists" -- isn't the rebuttals or defenses of these comments. Almost every responsible, sane and rational actor has dismissed Gingrich's remarks as preposterous, not because the Palestinians are not in some sense “invented” but because all modern national identities plainly are, in the same ways.

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Clinton: Gingrich's comments on Palestinians 'unhelpful'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
December 14, 2011 - 1:00am

Newt Gingrich's comment that the Palestinians are an "invented people" was unhelpful, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday, saying the Republican presidential candidate had realized this. Gingrich, a former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, stirred controversy on Friday when told the Jewish Channel cable television broadcaster he saw the Palestinians as an invented people who want to destroy Israel. "Remember, there was no Palestine as a state. It was part of the Ottoman Empire" until the early 20th century, Gingrich said in the interview.

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The Republicans
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
(Editorial) December 13, 2011 - 1:00am

Less than a month before the Iowa caucuses, the first step in the US presidential nomination process, Republican presidential hopefuls seem to be engaged in an attempt to outdo one another in demonstrations of support for Israel. Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the US House of Representatives who has pulled ahead of Mitt Romney in recent polls, has been the most outspoken. During a Republican debate held in Des Moines, Iowa on Saturday night, Gingrich defended comments he made last week to the Jewish Channel referring to the Palestinians as an “invented people.”

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Gingrich: Palestinians 'invented,' promises Netanyahu-style foreign policy
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Politico - December 12, 2011 - 1:00am

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich dismissed the Palestinian bid for statehood as the effort of an "invented Palestinian people, who are in fact Arabs, and were historically part of the Arab community." Gingrich also said the Palestinian Authority, which has typically represented the moderate wing of Palestinian leadership and formally accepts Israel's right to exist, is motivated by "an enormous desire to destroy Israel."

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Gingrich calls Palestinians an ‘invented’ people
Media Mention of Ghaith al-Omari In The Washington Post - December 12, 2011 - 1:00am

Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich said in a cable TV interview that Palestinians are an “invented” people with no apparent right to their own state, a rejection of a decade of bipartisan U.S. foreign policy. In the interview, which was taped Wednesday in Washington and will be broadcast Monday on The Jewish Channel, Gingrich spoke about his mistrust of Palestinian leaders, his admiration for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his view that the Obama administration is “favoring the terrorists” with its foreign policy.

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The GOP on the Palestinians as an "invented people"
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from CNN
by James Lindsay - (Opinion) December 12, 2011 - 1:00am

Apparently 7.6 million people like me had nothing better to do Saturday night than watch the twelfth GOP presidential debate. That’s the biggest audience by far to watch the Republicans to spar over who should lead the party against Barack Obama.

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