Last week, the Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas announced the cancelation of elections for the Palestinian parliament, which had been scheduled for later this month. Most likely, writes Elliott Abrams, the presidential elections planned for June won’t take place either. This decision, Abrams argues, is likely for the best, even though it undermines the PA’s legitimacy. He considers what can be done:

As terrorists were launching thousands of rockets at Israeli civilians, mobs were destroying Israeli cities, and Jews were being harassed and attacked on the streets of the U.S. and Europe, a group of nearly 100 American rabbinic and cantorial students signed an “appeal to the heart of the Jewish community.” The document, which was circulated online and then published in the Forward, echoed the anti-Israel rhetoric that was then pouring forth from the halls of the academy, major newspapers and television stations, and various celebrities and activists. Alvin Rosenfeld comments: