Israel SitRep: October 16, 2024
Today at 8:30am (ET): “FDD Morning Brief,” featuring Jonathan Schanzer and Edmund Fitton-Brown, FDD Event “Time for Berri to lead Lebanon’s Shiites away from Iran,” Hussain...
Human rights
Durov’s Arrest Is About Telegram as Russian Weapon, Not Free Speech
So-called free speech activists have jumped to defend Pavel Durov after his arrest, but they conveniently forget Russia’s weaponization of his Telegram platform.
Op-eds
Blinken Affirms Softening of U.S. Policy Toward Assad Regime
Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday became the first Cabinet-level official to confirm that the United States will no longer stand in the way of Arab states pursuing the diplomatic rehabilitation...
Policy Briefs
The JCPOA Has Not Improved Iran’s Human Rights Record
The Obama administration routinely argued that the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran could spur Tehran to moderate, thereby reducing its systematic human rights abuses. But this forecast has proven unfounded:...
Policy Briefs
European lawmakers demand sanctions on Iran for human rights abuses
Members of the European Parliament have called on trade conditions with Iran to hinge on Tehran improving its appalling human rights record. “Iran is a country where women are imprisoned for being women,”...
Op-eds
‘America is not the enemy, the enemy is right here’
Ali Larijani, speaker of the Iranian parliament, has described the United States as a “threat to the entire world.” But his daughter Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani is safe in Ohio, where she recently c...
Op-eds
Human Rights Groups Slam Iran for Prison Terms of Christians and Dervishes
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch blasted the Islamic Republic of Iran for its sweeping violent crackdown on Christians and Dervishes, including imposing lengthy prison terms on the me...
Op-eds
The EU’s Passivity on Iran’s Human Rights Abuses
A European Union spokesman said last week that the EU “attaches high importa...
Policy Briefs
Treasury Targets North Korea’s Human Rights Abusers
The U.S. Department of the Treasury yesterday designated seven North Korean individuals and blocked two entiti...
Policy Briefs
Analysis: Rouhani’s Anti-Gay Policies Mirror His Predecessor
Shortly after the election of Iran’s self-described moderate cleric Hassan Rouhani as president in 2013, the gay Iranian poet Payam Feili concluded, prophetically and pessimistically: &ldqu...
Op-eds
Examining Nuclear Negotiations: Iran After Rouhani’s First 100 Days
Chairman Royce, Ranking Member Engel, Members of the Committee, on behalf of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, thank you for inviting me to testify today on this important topic....
Congressional Testimonies
Iran’s Continued War on Christians
The Islamic Republic of Iran sentenced&n...
Op-eds
A Palestinian Flanking Maneuver
If the U.N. awards the status of 'non-member state' to the Palestinians, the Oslo Accords will be left in tatters.
Op-eds
Living with Islam
Begin with Western strength and confidence in our principles.
Op-eds
Some Questionable State Department Actions
Prepared by staff at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies 1) Global Counterterrorism Conference Without Israel The Global Counterterrorism Forum w...
Op-eds
A Defense of Drone Attacks in Pakistan Under Humanitarian Law
Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, international law has had to grapple with the fundamental challenges that large-scale violence carried out by non-state actors pos...
Op-eds
Venezuela and Pakistan, Shoo-Ins For the UN Human Rights Council?
You won’t find this information posted yet on the United Nations web site, because when the UN General Assembly “elects” countries to the 47 member seats on the UN Human Rights...
Op-eds
Muslims Attacked!
It’s funny, in an Orwellian way, that in Europe there are now militant groups with such cutesy names as Sharia4Belgium and Sharia4Holland. Less funny, but perhaps more Orwellian, is this: L...
Op-eds
New Ottoman Empire?
In the complex geometry slowly taking shape in the new Middle East, the Palmer report must have felt like a godsend to Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The report criticises...
Op-eds
Don’t Break Out the Champagne Quite Yet on the New Moroccan Constitution
Roger Kimball has beaten me to the punch in reacting to Jen Rubin’s post in praise of King Mohammed VI’s new constitution for Morocco. The constitution appears to transfer some import...