Israel's Image Revisted
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) May 16, 2012 - 12:00am

Writing in the Wall Street Journal this week on the occasion of Israeli Independence Day, Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren penned a powerful op-ed on the erosion of Israel's image. His conclusion: Israel's image has deteriorated in large part because of a "systematic delegitimization of the Jewish state."

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Nakba is part of Israel's history
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) May 15, 2012 - 12:00am

"I don't expect an Arab national to sing 'A Jewish soul still yearns,' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said two months ago, after Supreme Court Justice Salim Joubran refrained from singing the national anthem. Although the message was conveyed to Joubran indirectly, it reflected Netanyahu's understanding of the fundamental contradiction underlying an anthem that addresses only one people, the Jewish one.

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Israel's unity government: How big was the shift to the center?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - May 15, 2012 - 12:00am

When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined forces last week with the centrist Kadima party to form one of Israel's largest-ever coalition governments, it appeared to give him maneuvering room to pursue Palestinian peace talks over the objections of his hardline political base.

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Is Israel united in obstruction?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from NOW Lebanon
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) May 15, 2012 - 12:00am

The new coalition government suddenly formed last week by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the new leader of the Kadima party, Shaul Mofaz, remains something of a mystery. It is essentially a deal between two men, not two parties. Only Netanyahu and Mofaz really know the terms under which they joined forces. 

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If It's Okay for Mofaz...
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
(Editorial) May 14, 2012 - 12:00am

The dramatic announcement that Israel was going to have a new unity government instead of national elections scrambled the political calculus in the Knesset, left a shrunken opposition rudderless, and proved once again that Benjamin Netanyahu is one heck of a politician. It has also opened up opportunities for American Jewish dialogue on Israel.

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Israel shows off its homeland security technologies to international visitors
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Mati Wagner - May 14, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israel’s security technologies were on display as the country hosted two separate international contingents. An Interpol European Regional Conference brought 110 senior law enforcement officers from 49 countries to Tel Aviv, while a homeland security conference drew 37 mayors from two dozen worldwide cities to sites throughout Israel last week.

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Can good come of it?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist
(Analysis) May 12, 2012 - 12:00am

NO SOONER had news broken of the sudden alliance in Israel between Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, and Shaul Mofaz, hitherto the leader of the main opposition, than the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, called yet again for “substantive” talks to achieve a Palestinian state. Palestinian negotiators dusted off a plan Mr Mofaz first proposed in 2009 and has reiterated several times, wondering whether he might repackage it.

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Likud's ideology will now move toward the center
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Israel Harel - (Opinion) May 10, 2012 - 12:00am

To attack Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doesn’t need Shaul Mofaz. Such a strike, if it is ever carried out ‏(and it seems it won’t be necessary‏), will enjoy consensus support even without the Kadima chairman.

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Israeli city bans girls from singing at conference
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
May 10, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — An Israeli newspaper says a central city has agreed to a request by an Orthodox religious group to ban girls from singing at a youth conference next week. The Haaretz daily reported Thursday that the Kfar Sava town council imposed the ban to respect the wishes of the Bnei Akiva religious youth group. Various youth movements are set to participate in the conference. Strictly Orthodox Jewish men do not listen to women singing for reasons of religious modesty.

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Netanyahu, Barak, and Mofaz are delegitimizing Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) May 10, 2012 - 12:00am

The delegitimization of Israel has been accelerating at a dizzying pace these past couple of weeks − only this campaign is being waged here, in Israel, not by critics abroad. This latest attack of delegitimization is much more serious than what goes on in the rest of the world. This time the country is being delegitimized in the eyes of its own people. In the end, not only will the world stop believing Israel, Israelis themselves will stop believing in it or its institutions.

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