News

Friday, July 30, 2021

ISHR is pleased to release our 2020-2021 Annual Report this week. The report covers the diverse programming and activities that the institution oversaw in the last year. 

Find the full report here.

Friday, July 2, 2021

Elazar Barkan will be stepping down as Executive Director of the Institute on June 30th and on behalf of faculty, staff, students, and affiliates, ISHR would like to thank him for his many contributions. Professor Barkan joined the Institute in 2006 as Co-director and continued to lead as Director starting in 2008.

By David L. Phillips
Monday, March 1, 2021

The Biden administration will ratchet-up sanctions against Burma’s military junta in response to its coup and crackdown against civil society. To be effective in changing the junta’s behavior, sanctions will require a multilateral approach involving Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Secondary sanctions on businesses buying raw materials from Burmese companies, including banks handling the transactions, could also affect the junta’s calculation. China must suspend its business with extractive industries controlled by the junta.

by David L. Phillips
Friday, February 26, 2021

US airstrikes in Syria on February 25 targeted bases near the Iraqi border used by Iranian-backed militia groups, known as “Popular Mobilization Units (PMUs).” The strikes were retaliation for recent rocket attacks on US facilities in the Kurdistan Region’s capital of Erbil. Iran’s support for foreign terrorist organizations – Kata’ib Hezbollah and Kataeb Sayyid al-Shuhada in Syria and Iraq – is an impediment to diplomacy. The US should not consider negotiations with Iran on renewing the nuclear accord until Iran stops inciting violence by the PMUs.