Contributing Editor to the Columbia Journalism Review
Contributing Editor to the Columbia Journalism Review and regular contributor to the New York Review of Books
PROFILE
Michael Massing
Guest
FROM Michael Massing
To the Point
Middle East Peace and the So-called 'Israeli Lobby' Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in the Middle East this week, meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas . That is something Israel has said it will not do, since Abbas' Fatah faction formed a unity government with the more radical Hamas, which refuses to recognize the Jewish state. Meantime in the US, there's heated debate over the so-called "Israel Lobby," epitomized by the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee . Some influential Jewish Americans contend that AIPAC and its allies are too conservative, but say that AIPAC and its allies are so powerful they have squelched debate about American policy in the Middle East. They say that's bad for both the US and Israel itself where, ironically, debate is much more open.
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To the Point
Terrorism and tweets, hate speech and murder Just days before an election, Britain is coping with a rash of deadly terrorism, and Prime Minister Theresa May is on the defensive. And again today, President Trump has tweeted criticism of the Mayor of London. Later, a double murder in Portland, Oregon has revealed the ugly past of a supposedly “progressive” city. One immediate question: is “hate speech” protected by the First Amendment?
To the Point
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.