Segal Executive Director, The Washington Institute; author/filmmaker, Among the Righteous; host, al-Hurra's "Dakhil Washington," now in its 20th season!
Special personal tweet: In a stellar performance, my son David lifts a perfect 9 for 9 (squat, bench, deadlift) and finishes 7th at National High School Powerlifting Championships in Baton Rouge, LA. Way to go, Diesel Dave!
Eleven (yes, 11) reporters on this
@washingtonpost
story and yet not one mention that the
#Israeli
hostages were evidently kept not in underground tunnels but in private
#Palestinian
homes in crowded, multi-story buildings, which would raise disturbing questions about broad
Hello,
@washingtonpost
- is there a reason why you have not yet published a single front-page story (print edition) on the
#Iran
protests, the most consequential popular uprising against clerical rule in years & the most significant new factor in
#MiddleEast
politics today?
I am breaking my usual all-business twitter to report this historic breakthrough by my 3 sons: After 4 days, a thousand attempts, a lot of swearing and a few scotches (by me), we did it! Not since Wilbur & Orville have brothers (with a little help from dad) had such a success!
Last month's
@washingtonpost
article on
#Palestinian
mothers separated from their babies gnawed at me: could
#Israel
really be that nasty? So I did what 3 reporters should have done but didn't - I asked the Israelis. If they did what I did, they would have written a very
Hey,
@washingtonpost
- it’s 3-plus weeks into the most serious popular revolt against mullah rule in
#Iran
since 1979 and these amazingly brave women and men have still not earned a single front-page story. If you don’t take it seriously, why should the
#Biden
Administration?
These
#Palestinian
poll results (from March 2024) tell a depressing story:
- 71% say 10/7 attacks were "correct"
- 91% say
#Hamas
committed no war crimes in this conflict
- 59% say Hamas should control
#Gaza
after the war is over
- Hamas has double the popular support of
#Fatah
,
Question for
@nytimes
: concern for fate of
@JKhashoggi
notwithstanding, by what rationale are you suspending tourism to
#SaudiArabia
but proudly advertising money-making "Journey" tours to
#Iran
, world's leading sponsor of terrorism?
We are witnessing what could be a terribly sad moment in US
#MiddleEast
policy - a moment that cheers
#America
’s adversaries and frightens
#America
’s friends.
I have praised
@joebiden
as having proven himself since 10/7 the most pro-
#Israel
president in US history. However, the
Sadly, official
#Arab
responses to today's terrorist onslaught in
#Israel
are mostly weak & evasive. From my reading, only
#Morocco
had specific "condemnation" of attack on civilians. None mentions
#Hamas
by name; none labels purposeful killing of innocents as "terrorism." 1/4
Sadly, tendentious media reporting from the
#Hamas
-
#Israel
war has grown commonplace but I have never seen a story quite like the
@washingtonpost
piece headlined “Israel’s war with Hamas separates Palestinian babies from their mothers.” 1/14
Hey,
@washingtonpost
editors: after more than a month of nationwide protests in
#Iran
that "stunned"
@JoeBiden
& compelled
@BarackObama
to admit a "mistake" in not supporting activists in 2009, don't you think it's overdue to give this seismic event even one front-page story?
After 40+ years of mullah rule, the people of
#Iran
are rising up to reclaim their freedom and their country. I am so proud to have provided a platform for
@AlinejadMasih
to explain why every American should care.
@WashInstitute
#MahsaAmini
Why should Americans care about the murder of
#MahsaAmini
and Iranian people’s fight against Islamic regime?
Thanks to
@robsatloff
and
@washingtoninst
for asking this important question. Please listen to my address.
It is clear
#Israel
is near an operational decision to proceed w/a ground incursion into
#Gaza
, as bombing alone cannot succeed in achieving its war aims - nor will the patience of some of
#Israel
’s friends likely stretch far enough to allow bombing to get close to the goal. 1/14
It takes a lot of effort to devote more than 4,000 words to
#Gaza
and never once mention the word "hostages," whose plight animates much of what
#Israel
is doing in the war against
#Hamas
. Five of these are Americans, who were dragged across international borders by terrorist
“Allegedly” “Apparently” “Reportedly”
There isn’t a single fact - not a name, not a place, not a detail - in this statement. Shame on the UN’s
@OHCHR_Palestine
for legitimizing a transparent effort to blur
#Hamas
’ horrific use of sexual violence.
For unpardonable crime of committing truth - calling
#Israeli
airstrikes “precise,” therefore not indiscriminate -
@UNRWA
#Gaza
director gets recalled/replaced. What are chances we’ll ever hear another truthful word from occupant of that job?
No one in the world has looked at
#Gaza
fatality statistics as closely as my
@WashInstitute
colleague
@GabrielEpsteinX
. When he says they are “completely unreliable,” no media outlet or government official should quote them ever again.
In case you missed this over the holiday, here’s my detailed critique of the
@nytimes
front-page report on children killed in the
#Hamas
-
#Israel
conflict. What was wrong with it? Sadly, quite a lot.
@TimesofIsrael
#ICC
Prosecutor
@KarimKhanQC
announces applications for arrest warrants in relation to Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant in the context of the situation in the State of
#Palestine
⤵️
Pick your word,
@unrwa
- this is a falsehood. An untruth. A lie.
One doesn’t need a PhD in statistics to see through this PR stunt. 1 child killed every 10 minutes equals 6 per hour and 144 per day - a rate that amounts to a total of 28,512 over the 198 days since October 7.
A child is killed every 10 minutes in the📍
#GazaStrip
A deplorable number of children have also been injured amid intense and often indiscriminate attacks.
An immediate
#Ceasefire
is the last hope remaining.
W/great respect to US diplomats, appealing to
#Sinwar
’s humanitarian instincts will have no impact. Far better to make clear that failure to endorse ceasefire, without further haggling, will result in accelerated delivery of U.S. weapons to
#Israel
, offer for U.S. Corps of
Personal note: today, in frigid Providence cold, we bury my wonderful mom, Beverly Granoff Satloff, who passed away Thursday (my birthday) at the age of 92. May her memory be for a blessing, as she was always to her family.
What an ingenious plan we have! Erase the most successful US deployment in years - great strategic benefit, true burden sharing w/local partners & almost zero US battlefield casualties - and replace it with
#Russian
troops on
#NATO
border. Brilliant!
A govt that enjoys billions of congressionally-approved aid each year - and has aspirations for a mutual defense treaty - should consider the huge potential downside of barring congresspeople, regardless of how objectionable their views may be.
#Israel
Before we all strategize next steps, let’s take a moment to marvel at what happened last night.
In one of the worst mistakes in the history of the Islamic Republic,
#Iran
decided to break 40+ years of precedent and attack
#Israel
directly, sending hundreds of drones, cruise and
Since my earlier tweet on
#IranProtests
, I have been asked what the
#Biden
administration should do that would be constructive and supportive of the protestors, who may have been triggered by food prices but whose anger is much deeper and more profound. Here are 3 ideas: 1/5
Is there an analytically sound, statistically solid way to measure how flawed
@washingtonpost
's
#Gaza
war coverage has been? Yes.
Since Oct 7, I have been very critical of the Post's Gaza reportage. As a check on my own possible bias, I came up with a way to compare the Post's
In a rare exception to my “business only” twitter feed, my wife Jennie and I are delighted to congratulate our oldest son Benji on graduating from
#Duke
yesterday. What a happy day!
The resumption of
#Saudi
-
#Iran
relations has triggered what I believe to be exaggerated reaction about
#China
’s emergence as a
#MiddleEast
powerbroker and a strategic shift of
#Riyadh
away from its traditional partners. 1/17
As one of my sons said after we hit 100k views, who’d have imagined that - after 35 years of books, scholarship, policy analysis, a documentary film & a TV show - my most celebrated achievement was helping my boys create this Rube Goldberg contraption!
#Lifeundercorona
Why is it taking so long for the
@washingtonpost
to apologize for and correct a November 17 front-page story whose multiple egregious errors all point to an anti-
#Israel
bias?
Over the past two weeks, I have presented conclusive evidence that a story claiming that
#Palestinian
Namely, Oct 7 = the 1st successful effort by an
#Arab
force to retake territory, even briefly, inside pre-67
#Israel
. It is as if Al-Qaeda took control of Manhattan on 9/11 rather than hit the Twin Towers, killing thousands and forcing US army to fight to retake the island. 7/14
I have read the entire
#Israel
-
#Palestinian
peace plan and my advice to revelers is not to pop the champagne anytime soon -- "peace" is not around the corner. Here's a quick assessment. 1/11
Nearly three months before her abrupt departure yesterday from
@washingtonpost
, I had my one encounter with Executive Editor
@SallyBuzbee
. That was when she personally vouched for the accuracy of an article about the tragic deaths and subsequent discovery of premature
Other ideas are percolating - such as calls to impose a ceasefire on
#Israel
and achieve “calm.” In my view, these ideas fail to appreciate the enormity of what happened on Oct 7, not just in its barbarity but in its strategic significance. 6/14
In less than 36 hours, we will learn whether
#Israel
is facing the most serious constitutional crisis in its history - with a speaker of
#Knesset
and a caretaker government, despite lacking a parliamentary majority, refuses a direct Supreme Court order.
In DC, the
#Iran
story may be that
#Trump
opted for restraint over belligerence; in
#Tehran
and around the
#MiddleEast
, the story is that the US leader who imposed ‘maximum pressure’ is now virtually begging
@khamenei_ir
to talk with him.
A warm and heartfelt thank you to
@TheEconomist
for memorializing my remarkable wife so beautifully. She would have loved this. "Call of the ages: Obituary: Jennie Litvack died on June 27th"
In sum, it would be a mistake to apply pre-Oct 7 rules - eg the pursuit of an elusive, false calm
- to the post-Oct 7 reality. Such well-meaning efforts stand a good chance of widening/worsening conflict, not lessening the pain of the long-suffering people of this region. 14/14
I hope
@SecBlinken
succeeds in securing a hostage/prisoners/ceasefire deal but if
#Hamas
rejects this offer as it has done all offers for months, one doesn't need to be a Clausewitz to understand why -- there is simply not enough pressure on Hamas to change course, accept a deal
Indeed, counterintuitive as it may be, the region-wide perception of
#Israel
’s strength has been the prerequisite of all peacemaking since 1973, a fact no one who calls for an eventual return to peace diplomacy should forget. 5/14
Only in the bizarre
@UN
system... How could the
@CIJ_ICJ
have as chief judge in the case against
#Israel
a longtime diplomat from
#Lebanon
, the
#Hezbollah
-dominated country at war with the Jewish state? Isn't that like having a Russian judge rule on case involving Ukraine?
This is vindication for experts like my
@WashInstitute
colleague
@GabrielEpsteinX
, who have been arguing for months that the
#Hamas
Ministry of Health numbers - robotically repeated by U.N. agencies, NGOs and gullible, lazy media - were statistically false and politically
The UN has revised its estimates, halving the previously reported number of women and children killed in Gaza, with a disclaimer noting the inability to verify casualty figures independently.
Editors still on Thanksgiving holiday? Here is the latest in a series of unprofessional editorial decisions by
@washingtonpost
- today’s front-page headline, equating
#Israeli
hostages and
#Palestinian
security prisoners as “captives”
What's outrageously misleading about this seemingly scientific
@washingtonpost
story -- lots of graphs, charts and statistics -- about aid flows into
#Gaza
is that there is the barest mention that there is a war going on, with the government of the aggressor (
#Hamas
) preferring
ICYMI, my hometown newspaper --
@washingtonpost
-- published a massive article Tuesday that provided a high-tech, moment-by-moment drama of the tragic deaths of a family of
#Gaza
civilians, with a special focus on the horrible story of 6-year-old
#HindRajab
.
Enormous sums — the
This is huge - a true inflection point, as
@POTUS
termed it. USG needs to appreciate that absence of decisive action by
#Israel
now will invite more attempts of this sort in the future - more sophisticated, more audacious, more lethal. 8/14
Success! Well, at least partial success.
Late this afternoon,
@washingtonpost
finally published an “editor’s note” & an updated version of the flawed Nov 17 article on
#Palestinian
mothers separated from their newborn infants because of the
#Israel
-
#Hamas
war.
“These Americans are not just ‘wrongfully detained.’ These Americans were in their beds, or at a concert venue of a friendly country. They were attacked. They were kidnapped. They were dragged across international borders. They have been kept for more than 200 days in the most
Let's understand what is going on:
#Hamas
is not just thanking its sponsor; facing decapitation by
#Israel
, Hamas has every interest to enlarge the circle of conflict to deflect
#Israeli
retaliation and entice
#Israel
to fight a full regional war.
Spokesperson of Izzuddin Al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Obaidah:
“We thank the Islamic Republic of Iran who provided us with weapons, money and other equipment! He gave us missiles to destroy Zionist fortresses, and helped us with standard anti-tank missiles!”
By blurring the distinction between
#Israel
’s nuclear deterrent and
#Iran
’s exterminationist nuclear project, I don’t think I’m alone in wondering whether
@PeterBeinart
prefers a nuclear-free
#MiddleEast
or an Israel-free MiddleEast.
In this situation, deterring an escalation - ie on the northern front - is a key US role and the
#Biden
admin should be applauded for its robust efforts to convince
#Iran
it would be a painful mistake to unleash
#Hezbollah
’s arsenal of rockets/missiles on
#Israel
. 9/14
Maintaining US recognition of
#Morocco
’s sovereignty in the
#Sahara
is the right decision; contrary to misplaced criticism, it does not contradict US support for international mediation and peacemaking.
@SecBlinken
Number 3 is critical - re-establishing
#Israel
’s deterrence, with all its costs, is necessary to prevent both a much bloodier conflict in the future and to open possibilities for a return to diplomacy between
#Israelis
,
#Palestinians
and
#Arab
states. 4/14
If you wanted to harm US universities, lose jobs and shrink exports, exacerbate tensions w/the most pro-
#American
segment of the global elite and disinvest in future influencers around the world, this would be an excellent policy initiative.
Call it gutsy, call it risky, call it reckless - next to killing
@khamenei_ir
himself, targeting
#Suleimani
is swiftest, most direct way to counter
#Iran
strategy of rising regional influence across
#Mideast
and protect US/allied forces/assets, so far with minimal casualties. 1/3
- To guarantee
#Gaza
cannot be a platform for attacks in the future.
- To restore the confidence of the Israeli people that its government and army can provide for security.
- To reestablish
#Israel
’s deterrent power in the eyes of friends & adversaries in the Middle East. 3/14
I am delighted to break my “no personal tweets” rule to wish a huge congratulations to my son William, president of the Bethesda-Chevy Chase HS class of 2018, who graduated today. We are so proud of you!
@Barons2018
Don’t be fooled by the high-profile diplomatic push to support
@UNRWA
.
As its former general-counsel
#JamesLindsay
argues here, the real options are “systemic reform” (UNRWA has always opposed) and “dissolution”.
@WashInstitute
On Xmas eve, ironically,
#Israeli
authorities finally issued an official statement refuting the
@washingtonpost
Nov 17 front-page claim that
#Palestinian
mothers who had crossed from
#Gaza
to
#Jerusalem
to give birth were cruelly separated from their babies and forced to return
Given the reach, anger, brutality, and bloody history of the mullah regime in
#Iran
, one needs to take seriously this vile, outrageous threat against friends at
@FDD
.
Indeed, only by the regrettably costly route of ground operations - costly in terms of Israeli soldiers,
#Palestinian
civilians and perhaps the hostages - can
#Israel
likely meet the objective of ending
#Hamas
rule in
#Gaza
, which is needed to achieve these war aims: 2/14
Facts are stubborn things: More and more reports are emerging - some from unlikely sources like
@UNRWA
- that
#Israel
's precision strikes on
#Gaza
produced far less civilian damage than originally feared.
On the editorial side, the paper of Woodward & Bernstein already suffered a blow to its free-speech credentials by buckling under pressure and pulling this cartoon of a mass-murdering terrorist drawn by a Pulitzer Prize-winner because it was “divisive” 3/14
3)
@POTUS
- or at least
@SecBlinken
- should hold virtual meeting with families of jailed/injured/killed protestors to express support/condolences/commitment to universal rights and freedoms. 4/5
Milestone events are happening at such breakneck speed that we err if we don’t sit back and recognize the enormity of this - mabrouk and mazel tov to the leaders and peoples of the
#UAE
and
#Israel
.
Regrettably, once again,
@nytimes
issued a high-profile story -- this time, on video -- that is woefully under-sourced, with the effect of being a one-sided attack on
#Israel
operations in
#Gaza
last month. 1/7
This is backward - the targeted killing of three terrorists responsible for thousands of innocents killed, including a key player in the murder of hundreds of American troops in Beirut, is not the reason for increased risk of regional war; rather, Iran's strategy of targeting
The assassinations of three leaders of Hamas & Hezbollah have pushed the Middle East to the brink of a larger war. Part 1 of my conversation with
@wrightr
&
@vali_nasr
about this dangerous moment:
At NY gala last night,
@WashInstitute
gave Scholar-Statesman Award to 2 outstanding intelligence professionals who served both D & R presidents, ex-
@CIA
Directors
#GeorgeTenet
&
@GenMhayden
. In so doing, we honor all in Intel Comm who inject truth/fact into foreign policymaking.
What a joke! As the official who bore ultimate responsibility for failing to shut down
#Iranian
air space to civilian airliners,
@HassanRouhani
should be the 1st person indicted by “special court” he called for. The people of
#Iran
deserve better.
2)
@POTUS
should task
#NSC
to coordinate all-of-government support to help Iranians access the internet, circumventing
#Iran
’s draconian restrictions. This should include outreach to tech companies to assist/support online access for people of
#Iran
. 3/5
Strange story indeed - in a war filled w/death,
@washingtonpost
took a fundamentally good news story about premature babies from
#Gaza
cared for by compassionate people across enemy lines and turned it into a horror story, w/diabolical
#Israelis
lurking overhead. 12/14
Indeed, it seems the reporters could have written a wholly different story - “Despite war,
#Gazan
babies safe & protected in
#Israeli
and
#WestBank
hospitals” - but they opted to focus on the alleged distress of the mothers instead of the well-being of the babies. 6/14
Some perspective: these three tragic casualties in a US
#Army
training mission were about equal to the total number of US deaths in northeast
#Syria
throughout entire US deployment. Does anyone suggest we should end “endless training”?
Kudos to
@POTUS
on a
#MiddleEast
trip that achieved important objectives and, despite all the drama, proceeded about as well as one could have expected (and certainly hoped). 1/12
Advice to our
#Israeli
friends: Antisemites are a lost cause. A clear message + sharp distinction btw
#Hamas
terrorists v
#Gaza
civilians can win over millions who want a reason to give you benefit of the doubt.
@AmbDennisRoss
and yours truly in
@thehill
I am proud to join my friend Shaykh Muhammad al-Issa, SecGen of
@MWLOrg_en
and a leader who walks the walk, not just talks the talk, about tolerance. It is now more important than ever to stand united against those who preach hate.
#ToleranceDay
Today is
#UN
International Day for
#Tolerance
. The
#MuslimWorldLeague
has made it our sacred mission to promote tolerance and today, we share this joint message from religious leaders around the world calling for mutual respect & understanding.
#ToleranceDay
Amazing how myopic & masochistic is the
#Palestinian
leadership. Instead of taking advantage of others’ desire for closer ties w/
#Israel
to gain benefits for themselves, they make every move zero-sum, which means they will get zero - or even less. So sad.
1)
@WhiteHouse
should announce that, in accordance with longstanding policy, US pursuit of a new nuclear deal in no way constricts our right and duty to speak out in support of
#Iranians
exercising the universal right of free speech and assembly. 2/5
To paraphrase the proverbial words of Sen. Howard Baker during Watergate, what did
@AlJazeera
know and when did they know it? And let’s add this question - which mainstream U.S. media platform will report this first?
#Hamas
#Gaza
#hostages
One of the Israeli Hostages that was Rescued yesterday during the Joint-Operation in Central Gaza, 26-Year-Old Noa Argamani was being held Captive in the Home of Abdallah Aljamal, a Photojournalist and Writer/Editor for both Al-Jazeera and the Palestinian Chronicle. During the
With great sadness, the Trustees, Fellows and Staff of
@WashInstitute
send their deepest condolences to the family of Ambassador
@Martin_Indyk
-- the organization's founding executive director -- who passed away today.
Before the hoped-for "temporary ceasefire" in
#Gaza
opens the door for journalists to fan across the Strip, there is an important piece of unfinished business from the last pause.
Remember the sensational
@washingtonpost
story that featured a
#Palestinian
nurse wrestling with the
In historical terms, this
#Iraq
conference was perhaps the most significant citizen-inspired, people-to-people act of peacemaking in history. Let’s salute these brave
#Iraqis
, who now return to their homes across the country to face
#Iran
-backed militias and other extremists. 2/3