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Perspectives Papers

Perspectives Papers provide analysis from BESA Center research associates and other outside experts on the most important issues pertaining to Israel and the Middle East.

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Athens and Jerusalem Have a Diplomatic Opportunity

Greece, Israel, and five other countries of the Eastern Mediterranean have established the East Med Gas Forum. Turkey is not a member and is employing its own muscular approach in the region. The US would like the Forum to be more inclusive, specifically toward Ankara. Athens and Jerusalem could launch a diplomatic initiative to explore Turkey’s participation, as they have nothing to lose and much to gain from such an initiative.

Whitewashing Achille Mbembe’s Antisemitism

The African public intellectual Achille Mbembe was invited to be keynote speaker at this summer’s Ruhr Triennale music Festival in Germany (canceled due to coronavirus). His invitation was questioned due to his history of making extreme antisemitic statements. Mbembe claims, falsely, that his opponents were members of the extreme right who didn’t want a black speaker. A debate has ensued in which his supporters are demanding the firing of Germany’s antisemitism commissioner, Felix Klein. The Mbembe affair is one of the most aggressive campaigns to whitewash antisemitism seen in recent years.

Turkey: Are the Anni di Piombo Making a Return?

Turkey’s political polarization along conservative and secular lines is showing signs of being a slow-fuse time bomb. For most Turks, the domestic “political other” is not just a rival but a traitor, an enemy within—and Turks are increasingly expressing their willingness to kill or die to purge that other.

Pompeo’s Visit to Israel and the Chinese Connection

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently made a swift visit to Israel—his first trip overseas since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Although Iran and the application of Israeli law over parts of the West Bank were discussed, his priority was to pressure Israel to limit its economic ties to China. Two weeks later, it was announced that Hutchison Whampoa, a Chinese company, had not won the construction tender for a major Israeli desalination plant. Israel has little choice but to accede to American wishes in such matters, but it should not give up its relations with China entirely.

The 1982 Lebanon War and Its Repercussions for Israel’s National Security

The conquest of southern Lebanon in Operation Peace for Galilee, and Israel’s long sojourn in the area, had political and military justification. But defects in the IDF’s deployment during the operation, and later in its protracted security activity, culminated in the May 2000 hurried withdrawal that continues to this day to negatively affect Israel’s national security. 

After New York

New York City is the largest urban area in the US. It has the biggest economy and is the nation’s financial and cultural center. It also contains the largest single Jewish population in the world outside Israel. All those things are about to change. The twin impacts of the economic collapse created by the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing urban insurrections will intensify existing trends. People and power are moving out of New York at increasing rates. What are the implications for the US, the world order, and the global Jewish community? 

Turkey’s Selective Amnesia

Turkey exhibits a remarkably stubborn selective amnesia about its own history. The country claims the title of world’s greatest friend to the Palestinians and most ardent champion of their cause, yet forgets that the Palestinians assisted both the Armenians and the Kurds in their bloody fights against Turkey.

Twitter Favors Dictator Khamenei over President Trump Against US Interests

Twitter, which has spent most of Donald Trump’s presidency avoiding a public stand on his use of the medium, has slapped a “public interest notice” on his tweets about the rioting that is occurring in the US in the wake of the violent death in police custody of a black man, George Floyd. According to Twitter, Trump warranted this notice on the grounds that his tweets violate its rules regarding the glorifying of violence. Yet Twitter has nothing to say about the tweets of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, whose violent posts include hate speech and antisemitism and openly incite rioting and killing. Ted Cruz has called for the launch of a criminal investigation into Twitter’s violation of US sanctions against Iran. 

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