When elections cease to be a celebration of democracy (Yossi Mekelberg, Al Arabiya)

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2016/10/28/When-elections-cease-to-be-a-celebration-of-democracy.html

Europe marches toward the ‘populist’ right (Yossi Mekelberg, Al Arabiya)

More than three months after the British people voted to leave the European Union, the much-awaited British decision to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty has (almost) been announced. In a speech to her Conservative Party conference, Prime Minister May told the delegates that sometime in March next year her government will start the process of departing from the EU. It remains to be seen whether departure from this political union will push the rest of the EU closer together, or will signal the beginning of its disintegration.

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2016/10/13/Europe-marches-toward-the-populist-right.html

Netanyahu and Abbas: What’s in a speech! (Yossi Mekelberg, Al Arabiya)

One can only wonder what Shimon Peres, who passed away last week, would have thought had he known his funeral would present Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas with the opportunity to shake hands. The handshake did after all take place only a week after both exchanged verbal punches from the United Nations General Assembly’s podium.

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2016/10/03/Netanyahu-and-Abbas-What-s-in-a-speech-.html

Shimon Peres: The passing of an era (Yossi Mekelberg, Al Arabiya)

Today Israel and many others in the world are saying goodbye to the last of its political giants, who was the link between the founders of the State of Israel and the present. It is hard to write about Shimon Peres in the past tense. If there has been someone ever-present in Israeli political life, since its inception, it was him. For nearly seven decades there were symbiotic relations between the man and his country.

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2016/09/30/Shimon-Peres-The-passing-of-an-era.html

The G20 Summit managed to fulfil everyone’s very low expectations (Yossi Mekelberg, Al Arabiya)

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2016/09/07/The-G20-Summit-managed-to-fulfil-everyone-s-very-low-expectations.html

How the Israeli govt is undermining democratic values (Yossi Mekelberg, Al Arabiya)

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2016/08/03/How-the-Israeli-govt-undermines-democratic-values.html

Make America hate and fear again (Yossi Mekelberg, Al Arabiya)

The much awaited American political conventions’ season is upon us. After following the Republican (GOP) convention over the last few days, I must admit it is nothing short of excruciating and disturbing. Visiting presently the heartland of Trump potential support of the Old West makes these impressions way more vivid.

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2016/07/21/Make-America-hate-and-fear-again.html

Israel: A country at a crossroad (Yossi Mekelberg, Al Arabiya)

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2016/06/30/Israel-A-country-at-a-crossroad.html

A decade later, are Hezbollah and Israel learning lessons? (Yossi Mekelberg, Al Arabiya)

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2016/06/15/A-decade-later-are-Hezbollah-and-Israel-willing-to-learn-lessons-.html

French Middle East peace initiative: Between surrealism and skepticism (Yossi Mekelberg, Al Arabiya)

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2016/06/08/French-Middle-East-peace-initiative-Between-surrealism-and-skepticism.html

Why the real US election campaign is just starting (Yossi Mekelberg, Al Arabiya)

The good news is that the American presidential primaries are almost settled, the bad news is that this was only the prelude to the main Hillary Clinton-Donald Trump presidential race show. For the next five months we will be subjected to one of the most venomous election campaigns in US history

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2016/06/01/Why-the-real-US-election-campaign-is-just-starting.html

Netanyahu swerves Right out of control (Yossi Mekelberg, Al Arabiya)

When you think you have seen everything in Israeli politics and nothing could surprise you, think again – or better yet, think Netanyahu. If you thought no one could drag Israeli politics any lower, think again or better yet, think Netanyahu

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2016/05/25/Netanyahu-swerves-Right-out-of-control.html

General Golan’s truth hurts – avoiding it will hurt even more! (Yossi Mekelberg, Al Arabiya)

It is hard to tell whether General Yair Golan, Deputy Chief of the Israeli Defence Forces, could have anticipated that his speech a fortnight ago, in a ceremony on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, would cause a gale force political storm. In a very personal and reflective speech, he warned against alarming trends in Israeli society of intolerance, violence and moral deterioration, which undermine the very foundations of the country as a democracy. In response, a chorus of politicians from the right, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, embarked on unsavory attacks on the number two soldier in the Israeli hierarchy. Ostensibly, they were irked that on this poignant day of remembering the murder of 6 million Jews by the Nazis, Golan chose to state in public that “If there is something that frightens me in the memory of the Holocaust, it is identifying horrifying processes that occurred in Europe… 70, 80 and 90 years ago and finding evidence of their existence here in our midst, today, in 2016.”

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2016/05/18/General-Golan-s-truth-hurts-avoiding-it-will-hurt-even-more-.html

Londoners vote for diverse (co)existence (Yossi Mekelberg, Al Arabiya)

Fair play is one the characteristics British people are very proud of. However, this sense of fair play was missing from the London mayoral election campaign, which ended last Thursday with a very impressive victory for the Labour Party’s candidate Sadiq Khan.

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2016/05/11/Londoners-vote-for-diverse-co-existence-.html

For almost a decade, Gaza stripped of bare necessities (Yossi Mekelberg, Al Arabiya)

For nearly a decade the people of Gaza have lived in increasingly inhuman conditions caused by Israeli and Egyptian blockades, outbursts of war with Israel, and by a Hamas government with little regard for human rights. Nearly two million people, two-thirds of them refugees, are in desperate need of breaking the chains of the political equivalent of solitary confinement and a vicious cycle of violence.

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2016/05/05/Gaza-continues-to-be-stripped-of-bare-necessities.html

Obama roars in the Brexit den (Yossi Mekelberg, Al Arabiya)

Referendum fever is engulfing the British political system. In less than two months British citizens will have a once in a lifetime opportunity to answer a simple question: Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2016/04/27/Obama-roars-in-the-Brexit-den.html

Is pronouncing the death of the two-state solution premature? (Yossi Mekelberg, Al Arabiya)

Consensus is a rare commodity between and among Israelis and Palestinians. An unwelcome consensus has emerged, and is quickly taking hold, among many that the window for a two-state solution is either already hermetically sealed, or at best slightly ajar. This consensus derives from a complete breakdown of trust in each other that in return leads to deep despair in both societies.

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2016/04/20/Is-pronouncing-the-death-of-the-two-state-solution-premature-.html

Children should carry school bags, not AK47s (Yossi Mekelberg, Al Arabiya)

Armed conflict hurts not only combatants, but also civilians and in many cases the most vulnerable among them. A significant and a very disturbing case is that of child soldiers. It is unforgivable that in the 21st century children are not protected from the evils of war and even worse are recruited to become combatants, ending as both victims and perpetrators of war crimes.

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2016/04/13/Children-should-carry-school-bags-not-AK47s.html

AIPAC: Lobbying on whose behalf? (Yossi Mekelberg, Al Arabiya)

Had a stranger stumbled by accident into the recent Policy Conference of the American pro-Israeli lobby AIPAC, he or she could have been excused if they had mistaken it for an Arab and Iranian bashing extravaganza. It is an election year after all in the United States, and any expectation of tackling complex issues in a nuanced manner would be naïve.

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Obama came to Havana to bury the last remnants of the Cold War (Yossi Mekelberg, Al Arabiya)

President Obama’s visit to Havana last week belongs to the grand spectacles of history. Though it should have happened a long time ago, for irrational reasons it remained elusive, resisting the change of times. The animosity and venom directed towards Cuba from the United States, since its revolution in 1959, deserves to be examined through psychological analysis rather than foreign policy theories.

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