Norman A. Bailey

We still know nothing about the obscure American NGO which brought together 300 prominent Iraqi Sunni and Shia leaders to urge Iraq to normalize relations with Israel. If I had written in this column a month ago that more than 300 prominent Iraqis, Sunni and Shia, tribal leaders and even government officials, were going to…

The failures of Joe Biden’s administration so far make even Donald Trump look good – a miracle if ever there was one. Recently, a friend referred to President Biden as a “miracle worker.” When queried as to what he meant, he replied, “Every day, he makes Trump look better and better. If that isn’t miraculous,…

All seems well, but one hears dire predictions on every side. Psychologists have a concept they call “cognitive dissonance”. It refers to those occasions when one of the senses is signaling one thing and another of the senses is signaling the opposite. An example would be something that smells bad but tastes delicious. In a…

Insufficient attention is being paid to cyber terrorism, and to the debt time-bomb that will not spare even the most thrifty country. We all know about, read about, watch and hear about the many perils that surround Israel: Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, etc. There is also much ado about Israel’s domestic threats, including…

The new government will have its hands full with immediate problems, but fundamental reforms are also urgent. “His downfall…resulted from the smallness of a big leader who knew so much about history, economics and diplomacy, and so little about people, justice and trust.” Amotz Asa-El, Jerusalem Post, June 4, 2021. When (and if) the new…

The disasters that have befallen Israel in the past two years all point to the absolute necessity of forming a functioning government. Israel entered 2019 feeling very good about itself and the world in general. The economy was great, it was making historical diplomatic advances, its relations with the US couldn’t have been better, and…

The loss of life at Meron brings home the wider dangers Israel faces in the absence of a functioning government. The disaster at Meron demonstrated the extreme irresponsibility of the participants, but also the equally extreme irresponsibility of the authorities. This is just another example of the growing dangers involved in the fact that Israel…

After just two and a half months, it is clear that, for Israel, the Biden administration will be a repeat of the Obama administration. It is only two and a half months since Joe Biden was inaugurated president of the United States, but it is already clear that, as far as the Middle East in…

The weakness of the government in Jordan could lead to very difficult situations for Israel. One of the many reasons the upcoming election in Israel is so important is a factor that has been largely overlooked–increasing instability in Jordan. Read more at Globes

Pressing foreign policy matters mean Israel needs a strong, stable government after the election. Well, Israelis will be going to the polling places yet again in a couple of weeks. There is a tendency to emphasize the importance of the election for domestic reasons: Yes Bibi no Bibi; are the Haredim part of the Israeli…