Operation Piled Snow.

Thanks to extensive coverage by the national and international media, the world watched as back-to-back February snowstorms brought Washington, DC and environs virtually to its knees. Thankfully, very few people died as a result of the storms (the helicopters overhead were not there to fire missiles and white phosphorus shells at us). Those of us who live here hunkered down for several days, stranded in our homes; thousands of people lost electricity for up to a week or more, and millions spent hours digging out—and re-digging out—their cars, streets and front walks, and still more hours trying to get to and from work, the supermarket or the hardware store. By the time you read these words, however...

It Will All Be Over.

We no longer will be confronted by ominous six-foot-high mounds of compacted snow that make it impossible to safely walk on the sidewalk or cross the street. Our homes, businesses, schools and government buildings are intact, and once again we’ll be able to take for granted transportation, electricity—with the light and warmth it brings—and fully stocked shelves of food, clothing and other of life’s necessities.

Palestinians Are Not So Lucky.

It has been more than a year since Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip killed 1,400 people and injured 5,400 more. Not only are Gaza’s homes and businesses flattened and its infrastructure destroyed, but Israel refuses to allow building materials into the besieged territory. (See story on p. 9.) In the West Bank, those “mounds of snow” are concrete barriers manned by armed Israeli soldiers intent on making it impossible for people to go to work, school, the store, the doctor, the hospital—or their capital city. While Washingtonians, Marylanders and Virginians will not soon forget the “snowpocalypse” of 2010, we might also take a moment to contemplate what it would be like to live under such circumstances for years, if not decades. We then might finally object to the fact that...

Our Tax Dollars Are Paying for It.Speaking of Giving Away Our Hard-Earned Money...

We read with great interest an article in the Feb. 26 Forward entitled, “Magen David Adom and Its U.S. Arm Feud Over Their Future.” Seems Israel’s version of the Red Cross is insulted because the American Friends of Magen David Adom (AFMDA) is not as forthcoming with its funds as Washington is with Tel Aviv. Not only did AFMDA have a 2007 surplus of more than $46 million but, according to the Forward, “Years before, in order to oversee the use of its funds by MDA, the AFMDA set up an Israeli liaison office...The American group’s representative and his staff inspect projects and are required to approve each invoice before money is transferred from AFMDA.”

Now There’s a Concept!

Instead, however, every year the U.S. gives Israel its entire $3 billion-plus allocation up front, at the beginning of each fiscal year (Oct. 1), and requires virtually no accounting of how that money is spent. Moreover, while all other recipients of U.S. foreign aid are required to purchase only American goods and services with those funds, Israel is allowed to spend 26.3 percent of its aid on products made in Israel. Perhaps Washington should take a hint from the savvy American charity.

Not So Charitable...

Was the Jan. 20 assassination in Dubai of Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. (See “Two Views” on p. 12.) As the number of perpetrators—alleged Mossad operatives traveling on stolen passports of dual European-Israeli citizens—continues to grow, so does Israel’s irrational arrogance. For their part, Israel’s Western enablers have been content for more than 60 years to allow the Jewish state to kill as many people as it chooses, using their money and weapons—but, good grief, not their passports! After all, one has to...

Draw the Line Somewhere.

Pre-Emptive Paring Down.Some Washington Report readers may have noticed (but were too polite to comment) that the March issue was slimmer than normal. This issue, we confess, is bordering on the anorexic. But we’re working to recover. We started the year with a real financial scare—looking, we feared, at the Washington Report’s possible demise after 29 years of bringing readers information they could get nowhere else. (Happily, we no longer are the only voice in the wilderness.) As longtime readers know, our financial situation always has been precarious, but things were getting downright existential—in part, we believe, because of changing times for print media in general, exacerbated by the current economic crisis affecting so many. So we decided the responsible response was to pre-emptively tighten our belt—especially since this is an election year and we remain absolutely committed to providing information on pro-Israel PAC contributions and voting records of candidates for and members of Congress. (Our coverage will begin in the next issue.) We are sincerely...

Grateful to Our Early Angels.

Without the dedication and contributions of the people whose names are listed on the previous page—and, indeed, of everyone who has subscribed, made purchases from the AET Book Club, and donated whatever they could afford—you might not be reading these words. And it never was our goal to be toast!

The War Comes to the Table of Contents.

As we were preparing the table of contents for this issue, we noticed something interesting (and not terribly reassuring). The “Special Reports” section used to feature articles about Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran, among other countries. As Washington has expanded its global “war on terror,” however, those articles have moved up to the “U.S.”-related section, leaving only Southeast Asia as a (so far) autonomous region. So we hope you’ll join us in our quest to bring America home, and...

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