PHILADELPHIA – March 7, 2023 – The Spring 2023 issue of Middle East Quarterly features a selection of articles by leading specialists on issues of contemporary concern.
In “World Vision, Friend of Terrorists,” Clifford Smith, the director of the Middle East Forum’s Washington Project, examines evangelical aid charity World Vision’s serial problems with terror finance, culminating in the recent arrest, trial, and conviction of Muhammad Halabi, its manager of operations for Gaza, on charges of diverting funds to the Hamas. The Halabi scandal exemplifies how World Vision’s failure to adequately vet staff and aid recipients has facilitated the use of its funds by terrorist groups and highlights its continuing refusal to acknowledge and correct its negligent practices. “If the organization does not regulate itself, others, starting with Congress, should do it for them,” writes Smith.
In “South Africa’s Anti-Israel Obsession,” Augusta University professor Michael B. Bishku examines the emergence of South Africa as “Jerusalem’s fiercest critic outside the Arab and Muslim worlds” at a time when other African countries are improving ties with the Jewish state. Deeply ingrained within the ruling African National Congress (ANC), which has a long history of ties to the PLO, this hostility is unlikely to diminish so long as the ANC dominates South African politics and progress toward a two-state solution remains stalled, Bishku concludes.
In “Why Israel Is Judged Differently,” Shale Horowitz addresses an “extraordinary anomaly” that has vexed Israel for decades. Although “Jerusalem’s military conduct has been exceedingly restrained, especially in view of the perennially existential threat it confronts” (best exemplified by its “knock on the roof” tactic of firing non-lethal shells on buildings before actual attacks to allow inhabitants to evacuate), “its right to self-defense, indeed to national existence, continues to be challenged while its enemies’ explicit genocidal intentions and indiscriminate practices are ignored or whitewashed.” By way of explanation for the persistence of this singular double standard, Horowitz refers readers to the working definition of antisemitism adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).
In The Treacherous Triangle of Syria, Iran, and Russia, Anna Borshchevskaya explains how mutual support for the Assad regime in Syria’s civil war “led to the consolidation of Russian-Iranian strategic ties.” Contrary to expectations that Russia would disengage from Syria as the Ukraine war taxed its resources, the conflict has “intensified the Iranian-Russian security collaboration” in Syria and taken their relationship “to a wholly new level.” This “momentous development is bound to have far-reaching strategic implications, beginning with acceleration of Tehran’s dogged quest for nuclear weapons.”
The feature book review, by A.J. Caschetta, contrasts two biographies of terrorist leaders, one a “must read” by a bona fide historian and the other a “fawning” screed by an apologist. Other reviews by Mark Durie, David Cook, Dvir Dimant, David Rodman, Alex Selsky, Martin Sherman, Patrick Clawson, and Itamar Rabinovich touch upon the Qur’an, Jerusalem, and a range of other important topics.
The Middle East Forum promotes American interests in the region and protects Western civilization from Islamism. It does so through a combination of original ideas, focused activism, and the funding of allies. Subscribe to the MEF mailing list here.
For immediate release
For more information, contact:
Gregg Roman
Roman@MEForum.org
+1 (215) 546 5406
@GreggRoman - Twitter
