Death of a Party

Commentary World

Death of a Party

January 10, 2013

Did Shelly Yachimovich, by avoiding matters of national security, kill Israel’s Labor Party? TCF Fellow Michael Cohen in Tablet Magazine.

Read more about Michael Cohen

Michael Cohen, Contributor

Michael Cohen a former fellow at The Century Foundation. He is regular writer and commentator on American politics and U.S. foreign policy.

DAMASCUS, SYRIA - DECEMBER 21: Ahmed Muhammad Al-Nawa (L) is greeted by a neighbourhood friend after returning home from Lebanon to his family’s home in the village of Harran for the first time in 10-years on December 21, 2024 in Damascus, Syria. 36-year-old Ahmed, was imprisoned and tortured by the regime for a year and half in the Mezzah Military Prison in 2012-2013, after his release, his wife and daughter were displaced from their home in the village of Harran, Eastern Ghouta, Damascus, during the Assad regime’s siege of the region in 2014. They fled to Lebanon where they have been living in a tent in the Hosh Al-Hareem camp for the past 10-years. Ahmed’s mother Umm Marwan stayed behind in Syria due to a heart condition that stopped her from travelling. While living in Lebanon, Ahmed and his wife had four more children that were born in Lebanon and have never meet their grandmother, other relatives or seen the family home. After the fall of the regime Ahmed decided to return home bringing all his possessions from Lebanon and giving his mother the chance to meet her grandchildren face to face for the first time. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Commentary Century International

Lebanon and Syria’s Detainee Dilemma

ADRE, CHAD - APRIL 24: Newly arrived refugee from Darfur in Sudan, sit on donkey as they head to their shelters on April 24, 2024 in Adre, Chad. Since the beginning of the recent conflict between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the the Sudanese Armed Forces, (SAF), which began in March 2023, over 600,000 new refugees have crossed the border from Darfur in Sudan, into Chad. The total number of refugees, including those from previous conflicts, now stands at 1.2 million. Aid agencies, including The World Food Programme, (WFP), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, (UNHCR), already struggling with acute supply shortages, have warned that the life-saving programmes in Chad, will ‘grind to a halt in a matter of weeks without urgent funding’. Chad is now home to one of the largest and fastest-growing refugee populations in Africa. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Report Century International

The Horn of Africa Needs an End to the Gulf’s Proxy Wars. Cooperation Is Key.

Commentary Century International

Apathy and Skepticism Cloud Iraq’s Upcoming Election

SWEIDA, SYRIA - JULY 18: Bedouin fighters are seen on the streets of al-Mazraa village in Syria's southern Sweida governorate on July 18, 2025 in Sweida, Syria. Bedouins have travelled to Sweida from other governorates to help their brothers, as fighting flared up again between the Bedouin tribe and Druze sect in the southern Syrian province of Suwayda, as another ceasefire has collapsed a day after Syrian troops pulled out of the area. (Photo by Ali Haj Suleiman/Getty Images) Fighting has flared up again between the Bedouin tribe and Druze sect in the southern Syrian province of Suwayda, as another ceasefire has collapsed a day after Syrian troops pulled out of the area. (Photo by Ali Haj Suleiman/Getty Images)

Commentary Century International

A Catch-22 of Suspicion Imperils Syria’s Transition to Democracy

Report Century International

Beyond Bad Borders: How Nationalism, Imperialism, and Power Politics Shaped the Modern Middle East

BAGHDAD, IRAQ - NOVEMBER 26: Iraqi police cadets take part in a rehearsal of the police cadet passing out ceremony at the Iraq National Police College on November 26, 2024 in Baghdad, Iraq. Britain's Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is visiting Bagdad and Erbil for a three-day visit to Iraq, during which a Joint Statement between Iraq and Britain was signed to tackle people smuggling and organised crime networks which have been operating across the region and in Europe. Further cooperation was agreed on tackling drug flows, modern slavery and continuing counter terrorism work. (Photo by Henry Nicholls-WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Report Century International

Integrate, Normalize, or Fight: Choices Facing the Shia Armed Factions in Iraq