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Biden’s ‘open door’ to the Palestinian Authority David Pollock and Sander Gerber April 26, 2021 23:37 Joe Biden and Mahmoud Abbas. (Reuters) Short Url https://arab.news/vm8g3 The Biden administration is contemplating reopening the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) mission in Washington and restoring direct aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA), both previously shut down by the Trump administration. However, instead of diving headfirst into another diplomatic dead-end with the PA/PLO, President Joe Biden should attach real and substantial conditions to any reopening. It is worth ...

In a rare public statement on a political appointment, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs called out misleading allegations of antisemitism leveled against Kristen Clarke, President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. In a letter sent to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this week, the Jewish umbrella group urged the Senate to consider her nomination based on her record of fighting antisemitism and promoting civil rights. Clarke’s confirmation hearing is scheduled for next Wednesday. Last month, Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican...

Andrew Yang promised he would not take action on secular education in yeshivas. Eric Adams visited a Brooklyn yeshiva to learn about how it teaches science, math and English. Ray McGuire hosted a roundtable with rabbis in which he boasted about his comfort level praying at the Western Wall. These are just a few examples of the pointed outreach that leading candidates in the race for mayor of New York have been making to court the city’s Orthodox Jews, which historically have been an influential voting bloc in local elections. Experts estimate that New York’s 1.1 million Jews make up about...

In the fifth  in a series of TRANSITION 2021 memos examining the Middle East and North Africa, Michael Eisenstadt and David Pollock assess the multifaceted strengths of the U.S.-Israel partnership and its prospects for growth under the Biden administration. Areas for especially timely cooperation include climate resilience, agtech, and medical research, as well as longstanding work in the military and security arenas. Israel’s recent normalization deals with several Arab states only further widen the horizon. “Israel is a world-class innovator in technologies that will be critical to me...

IRBIL, IRAQI KURDISTAN: With the evidence available, independent analysts are hesitant to pin the blame on any specific group for Monday’s rocket strike on Irbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. But what they all agree on is that both the timing and nature of the attack, which principally targeted a base in the city’s airport hosting US military personnel, strongly suggest that it was the handiwork of one or more Iran-backed militias. According to reports, a volley of approximately 14 rockets hit Irbil international airport and nearby residential areas, killing a civilian contractor and injuring up t...