A New York Post op-ed contributor since late 2008, Benny Avni has covered America’s foreign policy and international affairs for various American and world publications since moving to New York in 1986. Before the Post, he was the New York Sun’s United Nations correspondent and world affairs columnist, breaking exclusive stories during the lead-up and the aftermath of the Iraq war and leading the UN press corps in exposing Turtle Bay corruption. A native of Israel, he has covered the Middle East beat since the 1970s.
Israel’s recent political roller-coaster ride came to a surprising halt yesterday with Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu on top — and saying he’s now poised to make the “tough decisions” facing the country...
May 09, 2012 12:00 AM
The State Department painted it as an elegant way out of a ballooning crisis involving Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng — but by day’s end, it looked like a disgraceful performance by US diplomats.Initial reports had...
May 03, 2012 12:00 AM
For President Obama, the UN-based plan for ending the slaughter in Syria is the only game in town.Yes, America has qualifiers and questions about the Kofi Annan plan. But those pale in comparison with the alternatives,...
April 25, 2012 12:00 AM
North Korea tested a nuclear-capable long-range missile the other week, and plans a nuclear-bomb test in the near future — while Iran nears the end stage of its nuclear-weapons program. Oh, and India tested its own...
April 20, 2012 12:00 AM
At this weekend’s Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, a number of leaders will plead with President Obama to end the futile war on drugs. Obama won’t change US policy — but neither will our allies stop...
April 13, 2012 12:00 AM
Hope springs eternal that diplomacy will end Iran’s nuclear-weapons quest, but the latest talks with Tehran seem aimed more at kicking the atomic can down the road — preferably until the fall. Iran hopes to stall so...
April 11, 2012 12:00 AM
Former UN chief Kofi Annan yesterday gave a first public account of his US-backed mission to Syria. Guess what: It’s a mess.But Annan’s futile activity as special Syria envoy of the United Nations and the Arab League is...
April 06, 2012 12:00 AM
A campaign of press leaks, led by some Obama administration insiders, is harming Israel’s and America’s ability to act militarily to end Iran’s nuclear quest.Washington officials and sympathetic media plainly intend the...
March 30, 2012 12:00 AM
President Obama’s chummy open-mic exchange with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev yesterday sounded very much like his foreign-policy Etch A Sketch moment.The two were finishing a conversation at the Seoul nuclear...
March 27, 2012 12:00 AM
This year’s “Spring Offensive” — the annual global cavalcade of anti-Israel demonstrations and events — is likely to finish up bloody.It began earlier this month with “Apartheid week,” the worldwide close-of-winter...
March 24, 2012 12:00 AM
The politicians aren’t talking about it, but one big reason we’re paying more for gas is a bipartisan US foreign-policy success — the independence of South Sudan.The oil-rich nation stopped pumping in late January...
March 15, 2012 12:00 AMSyrian ruler Bashar al-Assad’s troops killed more than 160 Syrians this weekend while “peace envoy” Kofi Annan sipped tea at the presidential palace in Damascus.As the death toll in the rebellion against the Damascus...
March 12, 2012 12:00 AMThe two leaders powwowed on Iran for three hours yesterday, but President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have yet to synchronize their watches.Netanyahu made clear that he’d light his short Iran...
March 06, 2012 12:00 AM
President Obama’s rousing speech to supporters of Israel yesterday is no doubt already being edited for broadcast in pro-Israel voting districts — yet it failed to erase important gaps between his administration and...
March 05, 2012 12:00 AM
Recent reports suggest that China may try to steal Jeremy Lin so he can lead its point-guard-starved national basketball team in this summer’s Olympics.Can’t wait. Just imagine how Beijing’s Communist Party elders would...
February 27, 2012 12:00 AM
The reign of Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez faces its worst trouble in years. The normally fractured opposition has suddenly united behind one man, Henrique Capriles Radonski, in the Oct. 7 presidential election....
February 21, 2012 12:00 AM
A wave of bungled assassination attempts this week, pretty clearly masterminded from Tehran, show that the Iranian regime’s reach, at least for now, is no match for its ambitions.Make no mistake. Iran and such proxies...
February 15, 2012 12:00 AM
Just in time for Meryl Streep to claim a new Oscar for her powerful performance in “The Iron Lady,” Argentina and Britain are reviving their 1980s enmity over the Falkland Islands.As the 30th anniversary nears for one...
February 13, 2012 12:00 AM
Russia and China’s veto Saturday of a United Nations Security Council resolution on Syria dismayed and outraged Westerners. So what are they going to do about it? The double veto underlined the West’s impotence in the...
February 06, 2012 12:00 AM
Syria is on the agenda of the UN Security Council this week, which above all means one thing: The bear is back. Russia is determined to prove itself a power that can determine the course of world events — at the West’s...
February 01, 2012 12:00 AM
Wednesday’s daring rescue in Somalia, almost as President Obama was hailing the Osama bin Laden killing in his State of the Union Address, seals it: The man who once hoped for substantial “change” on the world stage is...
January 27, 2012 12:00 AM
This weekend’s announcement of the withdrawal of our ambassador from Damascus underlines a strange phenomenon: Overseas ambassadors sometimes manage to make lemonade out of President Obama’s foreign-policy lemons.When...
January 24, 2012 12:00 AM
To waive or not to waive: President Obama soon must address the question, which (ready or not) puts Iran at the heart of the presidential race. A new law puts a universal ban on Iranian oil — but under pressure from the...
January 18, 2012 12:00 AM
Mitt Romney is no amateur when it comes to foreign policy. At least, that’s the opinion of Richard Williamson, the Romney adviser who’s stepped into the role that Condoleezza Rice played for George W. Bush in 2000 and...
January 16, 2012 12:00 AMIsrael, a country well-known as a terror target, is puzzled by the actions and identity of a “Saudi hacker” who may or may not be a cybergenius. Welcome to the future of terrorism and warfare.Our story begins with a...
January 11, 2012 12:00 AMTehran’s empty threat to close the Strait of Hormuz represents an opportunity for America. If President Obama plays his cards right, he could help slow Iran’s nuclear threat, promote hopes of regime change there, regain...
January 05, 2012 12:00 AMSo far, the Arab Spring has largely bypassed Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. Those areas are facing their own political mini-quakes but not on the magnitude of events in neighboring states. Still, the tremors should be...
January 02, 2012 12:00 AM
In this year of vast Middle East transformation, the region where Jesus was born is rapidly losing its Christians. Yes, tourists will continue to flood Bethlehem for the foreseeable future to experience Christmas where...
December 24, 2011 12:00 AMAs North Korea transitions from the era of bad-hair Kim Jong Il to that of buzz-cut Kim Jong Un, foreign-policy mavens advise us that ensuring stability in the peninsula obliges us to closely follow China’s cues.OK:...
December 22, 2011 12:00 AMFacebook may have helped with some Arab Spring revolts, but Skype this week provided a window into still-oppressed Iran — a chance for a live face-to-face with brave individuals aching to replace the brutal theocracy...
December 16, 2011 12:00 AM
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