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Dr. Zogby

A Bad Week, But Not That Bad

We have, of late, been inundated with press accounts declaring that the Obama Administration is in real trouble. Headlines scream: "Obama struggles", "White House dysfunction", or, worse still, asking "Has Obama Lost Washington?" One would get the sense that the Administration is unraveling. Read More »

The Last Chance for Syria?

One can only hope for the success of the recently announced U.S.-Russian plan to convene a conference aimed at finding a resolution to the conflict in Syria. As difficult as it will be for this effort to succeed, and as bitter a pill as it may be for the warring factions to swallow, it may represent the last chance to avert a greater disaster. Read More »

Recognizing Israeli/Palestinian Realities Requires the US, Not the Arab League, Change Direction

Last week an Arab League committee proposed a change in their 2002 peace initiative in which they promised to normalize relations with Israel following a complete Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied in 1967 and an agreed upon resolution of the issue of the Palestinian refugees. Modifying this somewhat, what the Arab League committee did last week was reaffirm that the 1967 borders should be the basis for a final peace between Israel and Palestine, while acknowledging the notion that "land swaps" would be an acceptable part of such a deal.  Read More »

Drones and Rumsfeld’s Question

Earlier this week, a U.S. Senate subcommittee held hearings on the use of drones. Most of those who testified were Constitutional law professors or terrorism experts. In what was an emotional highpoint of the proceedings, the committee also heard from a young U.S. educated Yemeni, Farea Al-Muslimi, whose village had been hit by a drone attack just one week earlier.  Read More »

Congress Should Not Reward Israel with Visa Waivers

There are currently several pieces of legislation being considered in the U.S. Congress that would include Israel in the Visa Waiver Program—thus allowing Israeli citizens to enter the U.S. without first obtaining a visa. Several Senators and Members of the House have already signed on as co-sponsors. Because countries seeking to qualify for visa waivers must provide "reciprocal privileges to citizens and nationals of the United States,” I would advise those current sponsors and those who might be considering signing on in the future to first take a long, hard look at the Department of State's (DOS) Travel Advisory for Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. Read More »

American Attitudes Toward Egypt Have Soured

American public opinion has soured on Egypt, with one-half of all American voters now holding an unfavorable view of that country and its leadership. This was not always the case. Read More »

Obama’s Lesson: “Look at the World Through Their Eyes”

President Obama got it just about perfect in his Jerusalem speech when he urged Israelis to see the world through the eyes of Palestinians. That portion of his remarks was so compelling it deserves to be quoted in full: Read More »

Policy Implications of Iran’s Fall from Favor in Arab and Muslim Public Opinion

In "Looking at Iran: Iran's Rise and Fall in Public Opinion", I detail the dramatic shifts that have occurred in Arab and Muslim attitudes toward Iran, its regional policies and its nuclear program.  Read More »

Ten Years Later: Big Lies, Bad Decisions, Fateful Consequences

The big lies of the Iraq war were not the faulty intelligence about weapons of mass destruction or the fabricated link between Saddam and 9/11. More serious were the infantile fantasies promoted by the Bush Administration and their supporters that the war would be a "cake walk". They argued that it would require less than 100,000 troops, take less than 6 days to win, cost at most one to two billion dollars (before Iraqi oil revenues kicked in to pick up the rest of the tab), and it would all be over in six months. Read More »

I Was Wrong: Israeli-Palestinian Peace is on the President’s Trip Agenda

A few weeks ago, I assumed that the main emphasis of President Barack Obama's upcoming visit to the Middle East would not be the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Taking my cues from Secretary of State John Kerry's recently completed trip and the way the White House had been "low-balling" expectations about making any progress in restarting Israeli-Palestinian talks, Read More »

The Rise and Fall of Iran in Arab and Muslim Public Opinion

Policy discussions here in the U.S. about Iran and its nuclear program most often focus exclusively on Israeli concerns. Ignored are Arab and Muslim attitudes, especially those of Iran's Arab and non-Arab Muslim neighbors. It is known that several Arab governments have problems with the Islamic Republic in Tehran, but what of their publics? Read More »

Vindication!

Former Senator Chuck Hagel's confirmation as Secretary of Defense was important for several reasons, many of which have been exhaustively examined by media commentators. For Arab Americans, there was another reason why we celebrated the final vote: it represented vindication. Read More »

Obama’s and Kerry’s Mid-East Visits

In a week, John Kerry travels to the Middle East and the Arab Gulf states for his first trip as Secretary of State. A few weeks later, President Barack Obama will make his first trip to Israel as President, followed by his first visits to Palestine and Jordan. Read More »

Obama’s and Kerry’s Mid-East Visits

In a week, John Kerry travels to the Middle East and the Arab Gulf states for his first trip as Secretary of State. A few weeks later, President Barack Obama will make his first trip to Israel as President, followed by his first visits to Palestine and Jordan. Read More »

Only Blaming the Victim: The Definition of Chutzpah

In what can only be described as "chutzpah", David Keyes, the Executive Director of a group calling itself "Advancing Human Rights", penned "Palestine's Democracy Deficit" a column that appeared earlier this week in the New York Times.  Read More »

Obama and Drones: Unkept Promises

I find deeply troubling the White House claim that their use of drones to assassinate suspected terrorists is "legal, ethical and wise". The release of a Department of Justice "White Paper" that purports to establish the Administration's legal justification for these killings only compounds my concern. Read More »

U.S.-UAE: Viewing Each Other

As part of their work examining the East- West divide, my students at New York University's Abu Dhabi campus designed a survey to be administered in the U.S. and an Arab country in order to better understand how Americans and people in the Arab World understand themselves and each other. Last year we examined the perceptions that Americans and Egyptians had of each other.  Read More »

Bridging the East-West Divide: My Experience at NYU Abu Dhabi

This January I returned to the UAE to teach a short term course at New York University's Abu Dhabi campus. It was a remarkable experience. My 13 students hailed from 10 countries and were a highly self-aware and wonderfully articulate group. Read More »

Gun Crazy

We have a cockeyed national debate on gun violence in which some motivated by political expediency seek to dodge core issues, while others driven by political ideology work to misdirect the discussion diverting it away from the core issues. Read More »

Hagel Nomination: Stakes Are High, But Far from Over

In the lead up the President Obama's announcement, there was an intense debate over former Senator Chuck Hagel's potential nomination as Secretary of Defense. At times Hagel's opponents became a touch hysterical indulging in excessively harsh rhetorical attacks. At first, they charged that he was not sufficiently pro-Israel or hawkish enough on Iran. But then, as is often the case, Hagel's opponents began to hyperventilate, upping the ante by claiming that the Senator was anti-Semitic or "obsessively addicted to dialogue" with Islamic extremist movements. Read More »

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