Top Items:
Alan M. Dershowitz / Christian Science Monitor:
Israel, Hamas, and moral idiocy — Much of the world's response is a false moral equivalence that simply encourages the terrorists. — Israel's decision to take military action against Hamas rocket attacks targeting its civilian population has been long in coming.
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William Sieghart / Times of London:
We must adjust our distorted image of Hamas — Gaza is a secular society where people listen to pop music, watch TV and many women walk the streets unveiled — Last week I was in Gaza. While I was there I met a group of 20 or so police officers who were undergoing a course in conflict management.
Adam Horowitz / The Huffington Post:
Jews are Soul-Searching About Madoff — What About Gaza? — There has been an unusual amount of introspection in the Jewish community this holiday season. Hanukkah was almost overshadowed by the Madoff scandal and the accompanying uproar about his impact on the Jewish community.
Pamela Geller / Atlas Shrugs:
FLORIDASTAN: ISLAMIC ANTI JEW, PRO-HAMAS RALLY - THE HATRED OF THE GOOD — Federal building Broward Blvd. Fort Lauderdale, Florida: Muslims rally against the Jewish state. — It was pandemonium. Muslims dress in full jihad garb juiced with .... hate.It looked like Halloween in Gaza.
Discussion:
Israel Matzav, Debbie Schlussel, the “silent&rdquo …, Ynetnews, Jihad Watch and Boker tov, Boulder!
New York Times:
Israel Likely to Reject 48-Hour Cease-Fire Plan
Israel Likely to Reject 48-Hour Cease-Fire Plan
Discussion:
BBC, Reuters, Boker tov, Boulder!, Harry's Place, Mondoweiss, A Blog For All, Little Green Footballs, JammieWearingFool, Feministing, Truthdig and Soccer Dad
Deb Riechmann / Associated Press:
White House says cease-fire depends on Hamas
White House says cease-fire depends on Hamas
Discussion:
The Huffington Post
Ta-Nehisi Coates:
Bobby Rush on CNN — Here's Rush arguing for the importance of a black senator. To which I respond—Nigga, please!! — I don't know if I've shifted politically or what. But after watching a black man named Barack Obama—who couldn't get into the Democratic convention eight years ago …
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Chicago Sun Times:
Another bad choice by ethically bankrupt gov — The people of Illinois didn't need another reason to throw Gov. Blagojevich out of office. — They had plenty already. — But on Tuesday, the governor gave the state one more excellent reason, this time by going back on his word and appointing …
Lynn Sweet / Chicago Sun Times:
Davis said thanks, but no thanks — WASHINGTON — Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.) would like to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the Senate. The appointment was dangled before him last Wednesday. He turned it down. We discussed why when we talked Tuesday night …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blogs, Ta-Nehisi Coates, TalkLeft, The Swamp, TIME.com, Progress Illinois, TPM Election Central, The Politico, Associated Press, Hot Air, Reuters and CNN
John Kass / Chicago Tribune:
For sheer brazenness, nobody surpasses Rod
For sheer brazenness, nobody surpasses Rod
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Michael Barone, Progress Illinois, theheretik.us, Buck Naked Politics and Wall Street Journal
Evan Perez / Wall Street Journal:
Gonzales Defends Role in Antiterror Policies — WASHINGTON — Alberto Gonzales, who has kept a low profile since resigning as attorney general nearly 16 months ago, said he is writing a book to set the record straight about his controversial tenure as a senior official in the Bush administration.
Barak Ravid / Haaretz:
Arab youths open fire on Israelis working at mall in Denmark — A group of Arab youths opened fire Wednesday evening on a number of Israelis working at a mall in the Danish city of Odenza, some 200 kilometers north of Copenhagen. — The Israelis, who were operating a stall in the shopping center, were lightly wounded in their legs.
RELATED:
Stephanie Clifford / New York Times:
Village Voice Lays Off Nat Hentoff and 2 Others — The troubled Village Voice laid off three employees Tuesday, including Nat Hentoff, the prominent columnist who has worked for the paper since 1958, contributing opinionated columns about jazz, civil liberties and politics.
Sam Youngman / The Hill:
Obama dismisses Bush Pentagon appointees — Despite keeping Defense Secretary Robert Gates in the Pentagon, President-elect Obama's transition team informed 90 Bush appointees their services will not be needed after Inauguration Day. — Scott Gration, a senior official on Obama's transition team …
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
No end in sight — More evidence? A weak case? Behind-the-scenes negotiations? — Anyway, it goes on:
Megan McArdle:
The problem with Israel-Palestine blogging — Everyone engaged in it is interested in proving that one side is righter than the other. Since no action in the region has occurred without plausible provocation for 4,000 years or so, this requires constantly shifting the metrics by which you measure whichever side you happen to favor.
Discussion:
Israel Matzav
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Torture prosecutions finally begin in the U.S. — (updated below - Update II) — While fiercely loyal establishment spokespeople such as The Washington Post's Ruth Marcus continue to insist that prosecutions are only appropriate for common criminals ("someone breaking into your house") …
Joe / Power Line:
HAMAS H.Q. BOMBED; POWER LINE, TOO — Talk about disproportionate response. Just an hour or so after Power Line posted a series of videos from the Israeli Defense Forces—videos that, as Scott discovered, YouTube had pulled—we experienced a Denial-of-Service attack from a cabal …
Ruth Marcus / Washington Post:
Pyrrhic Torture Trials — Should Bush administration officials be put on trial for crimes such as authorizing torture? — Personally, I'm just relieved to have this crowd heading out of office and its policies — on torture, on indefinite detention, on warrantless wiretapping …
Andrew E. Kramer / New York Times:
Gazprom Set to Halt Gas to Ukraine — MOSCOW — Negotiations over gas prices between Russia and Ukraine unraveled Wednesday and executives at Gazprom, the Russian natural gas monopoly, said they were preparing to halt supplies early Thursday morning. — If they do, customers in Western Europe …
Discussion:
On Deadline
Andy McCarthy / The Corner:
Re: The Sense of Proportion — I want to add two cents to the much needed efforts of Ramesh and Victor (see, e.g., here and here) to correct the perversion of the concept of proportionality. I noted this trend back in the summer of 2006, when it was applied to Israel's military operations against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.