Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel » Ilana Decker

Unacceptable Proliferation: Meaning What We Say When it Comes to Iran

Ilana Decker — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 15:17:35 +0000

Words matter. Nowhere more so than in our diplomatic sparring across the globe, when they’re often all we’ve got. An overused trope can transform an intended ultimatum into toothless farce. Perhaps that’s why official warnings toward Iran have started to conjure for me Wallace Shawn’s Vizzini in The Princess Bride. Anyone who came of age [...]

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Killing Abu Mazen softly by supporting him in the UN

Ilana Decker — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 06:00:30 +0000

Of the casualties suffered during Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza, the most monumental in its significance to the Palestinian people was perhaps the most ignored. The flagging relevance of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, one foot already in the grave, was dealt another blow last week as Hamas succeeded in its long-held aspirations for [...]

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A Comedy of Errors

Ilana Decker — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 16:02:56 +0000

Last Thursday’s The Daily Show featured a subject so “epic”, so “startling”, that the customary format of the show was dispensed with in favor of a two-part “investigation” conducted by the show’s John Oliver. What farcical nugget might be deserving of such an extreme degree of Jon Stewart-brand derision? Which parody-worthy windfall of the week, between [...]

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