Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel » Meir Javedanfar

Forecasting Iran’s Upcoming Elections

Meir Javedanfar — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 09:35:33 +0000

Iranian politics is notoriously difficult to predict. This is especially true with regards to elections, which these days are increasingly managed by the regime, as we found out in 2009. However, it is important to try and see where things are likely to go in the elections, based on one’s own perceptions, assumptions and reading of the [...]

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Rest in peace Margaret Thatcher

Meir Javedanfar — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 10:42:31 +0000

Rest in peace Margaret Thatcher. I didn’t agree with much of your politics, especially with regards to the conflict in northern Ireland and the ANC, but I will always be grateful to you and the British people for accepting me and my family as refugees in 1987 and allowing us access to the same health [...]

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Potential Egyptian economic collapse on Israel’s doorstep

Meir Javedanfar — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 22:17:39 +0000

In Israel, the press and politicians seem to be worried about what’s happening around the country’s borders, but in my opinion, they are not worried enough (now there is a first!). Worried about Turkey? You betcha! Worried about the Syrian civil war and its consequences? Oh yes. Worried about Lebanon and the fact that Prime [...]

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Obama’s “hand picked” audience in Jerusalem?

Meir Javedanfar — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 15:13:40 +0000

The Israeli audience at Obama’s speech on the 21st of March at the Jerusalem convention center was hand-picked carefully by the Obama administration. Only Israelis who supported his view were invited and allowed to attend.’ This seems to be the conventional wisdom of some people here in Israel who are upset that Obama received so [...]

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Is Israel An Apartheid State?

Meir Javedanfar — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 22:12:42 +0000

As I have mentioned on numerous occasions, I am against settlement expansions. I want to see an independent state of Palestine, next to the state of Israel, based on the Clinton Parameters. This is one of the main reasons why I voted for Meretz in the recent elections. In my opinion, unless we reach a [...]

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If Assad retaliates against Israel he risks his entire regime

Meir Javedanfar — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 06:35:22 +0000

Bashar Assad is under pressure to retaliate against Israel. According to Israel’s Channel 2 Middle East expert Ehud Yaari, for the first time in recent Syrian history, Syrians are going on television and asking their government to attack Israel on the Golan. According to Yaari, this is unprecedented: the Assad family tried to suppress such [...]

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Was There an Explosion in Iran?

Meir Javedanfar — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 16:10:18 +0000

Since this morning I have been contacted by numerous reporters asking me whether the WND report about an alleged explosion at the Iranian nuclear site in Fordo is true. The answer I have given to all reporters has been: no idea. It could be true or it could be nothing more than a figment of [...]

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Why I Voted For A Left-Wing Israeli Party

Meir Javedanfar — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 00:08:52 +0000

Its been a busy and exciting day. I had to do quite a few interviews and had the privilege of voting. I say privilege because while I was voting, my heart was in Israel but my mind and thoughts were with thousands of young Iranians who in 2009 were tortured, maimed or killed for wanting [...]

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Hagel nomination is not a sign of weakness to Iran

Meir Javedanfar — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 11:24:56 +0000

In an article in The Algemeiner published yesterday, Professor Alan Dershowitz made this alarming claim about the Hagel appointment: President Obama’s nomination of Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense risks increasing the likelihood that Iran will develop nuclear weapons. It poses that risk because Hagel is well known for his opposition both to sanctions against Iran and to [...]

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Naftali Bennet is convincing me

Meir Javedanfar — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 12:24:25 +0000

When it comes to who I would vote for in the upcoming Israeli elections, my choice has been quite clear: Tzipi Livni. This is because of several reasons: she seems more serious about the peace process than Shelly Yachmovich of the Labor party. She is an established political figure compared to a lot of others [...]

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Ignore Israel’s diplomats at your peril

Meir Javedanfar — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 14:46:23 +0000

Every year the Israeli foreign ministry holds its annual conference in late December/early January where Israeli ambassadors from around the world return home to talk about their experiences abroad. And every year we hear sensible things from them, which the government ignores. This year the Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor, publicly asked the [...]

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Iran keeps silent on the killing of Palestinians in Syria

Meir Javedanfar — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 20:09:10 +0000

In his 26th of November article for Al Monitor, former spokesman for Iran’s nuclear negotiators, Seyed Hossein Mousavian, provides a number of reasons as to why he believes that Iran and Hamas were the winners in the recent eight day Gaza conflict. One notable reason why he believes that Iran shone during the fighting was [...]

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A lively panel debate on Iran and Israel

Meir Javedanfar — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 21:21:34 +0000

I took part in this lively panel on Iran and Israel last week at the LSE in London. It was sponsored by BBC Arabic and the Front Line Club. Really enjoyed it. The other panelists were former TIME correspondent in Iran Azadeh Moaveni, Scott Petersen of The Christian Science Monitor and Abdel Bari Atwan of [...]

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Iranian Regime Wants to Build Two Mega Prisons

Meir Javedanfar — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 20:27:50 +0000

According to the Iran based Mehr news, the Iranian parliament is looking to gather sufficient funds for the construction of two mega prisons in the south of Tehran, with each being able to house 10,000 inmates. According to the article, one of the reasons behind this move is to transfer prisoners from Tehran’s current dreaded Evin [...]

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Iranian Regime’s Unimpressive Drone Show

Meir Javedanfar — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 21:14:48 +0000

The Iranian government is doing its best to show off what it says is a captured US drone, but we have to ask: are the people of Iran really paying attention? This is especially true about the people of Tehran. Those who want to care have to stop coughing first as the level of pollution in [...]

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