Joel Mowbray, who got his start with Townhall.com, is an award-winning investigative journalist and nationally-syndicated columnist. With tenacious reporting and insightful commentary, Joel has become a leading expert on the original Axis of Evil: Iran, Iraq, and North Korea; its unindicted co-conspirator, Saudi Arabia; and the Middle East’s original democracy, Israel. He is best-known for his exposés of the State Department which led to the end of Visa Express in Saudi Arabia and the firing of the Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs, Mary Ryan. More recently, he uncovered the fact that the Bureau of Prisons was allowing Islamic terrorists in federal prison to communicate with the outside world—and the agency did not have a single full-time Arabic translator to monitor the phone calls and letters of over 100 terrorists. In 2003, Joel was named “Journalist of the Year” at the Conservative Political Action Conference and won the Eugene Katz award for excellence in immigration coverage. He was also a finalist for a National Magazine Award—that industry’s Pulitzer Prize—for outstanding investigative journalism. In addition, he is the author of “Dangerous Diplomacy: How the State Department Threatens America’s Security.” His work has been published in a wide variety of top publications, including the Wall Street Journal, L.A. Times, National Review, New York Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, San Diego Union-Tribune, Investors Business Daily, Philadelphia Inquirer, Arizona Republic, Manchester Union Leader, FrontPage magazine, Jewish World Review, and Washington Times. Since 2002, Joel has made over 200 appearances on TV news programs, ranging from ABC’s “Good Morning America” and “World News Tonight” to Fox News’ “Hannity & Colmes” and “Fox & Friends.” He is also a regular on several nationally-syndicated talk radio programs, such as the “G. Gordon Liddy Show” and the “Jim Bohanon Show.” A graduate of the University of Illinois (with a degree in economics) and Georgetown Law School, Joel worked on Capitol Hill for former Rep. Mark Sanford (R-SC), where he primarily handled Social Security privatization. Earlier he spent two years working for Pioneer Strategies under now-ABC News reporter Heather Nauert. http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray http://media.townhall.com/TownHall/icons/TH-feed-icon-128x128.gif http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray TownHall.com, Where your opinion counts. 128 Copyright (c) 2009 Townhall.com, A Salem Communications Web. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED jim.dearras@townhall.com (Jim De Arras) Tue, 23 Jun 2009 04:01:00 GMT Tue, 23 Jun 2009 04:01:00 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ Following a surprising speech in which he uttered the words "Palestinian state" for the first time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has strengthened his standing at home and abroad, far exceeding expectations... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2009/06/23/obama_unable_to_bully_israel_-_for_now c9d92298-6c09-456c-87b7-681695e8e9de Tue, 23 Jun 2009 04:01:00 GMT It did not come with the promise of 72 virgins, but newly released Guantanamo Bay detainees managed to make it to paradise after all. What the fawning media neglected to mention was that these supposedly friendly lads... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2009/06/19/media_love_for_terrorists_in_paradise_program 556568b7-37c1-4f90-9eb6-fe4c25063ee3 Fri, 19 Jun 2009 04:01:00 GMT If President Obama is serious about tackling the ever-elusive goal of achieving peace in the Middle East, he should start his efforts not by focusing on Israel or the Palestinians, but rather a little closer to... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2009/06/05/how_us_taxpayers_are_funding_palestinian_terrorism 0744c0c6-4c4d-4f2e-9558-58f06efa2411 Fri, 05 Jun 2009 04:01:00 GMT When Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu sit down for the first time as world leaders today, chatter in and outside the Beltway will revolve around the chess match expected between two savvy political... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2009/05/18/obama's_main_obstacle_to_pushing_around_israel_ordinary_americans 6f56a3ce-7d58-4444-9d41-9e4f9f43b4c0 Mon, 18 May 2009 04:00:00 GMT JERUSALEM-Speaking anonymously, senior Obama administration officials have been complaining about the prospect of working with a newly elected center-right government in Israel, led by Benjamin Netanyahu. The whispering... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2009/02/18/how_netanyahu_helps_obama,_peace e4fe19ed-4e7a-4679-8272-7d2c73ff7d05 Wed, 18 Feb 2009 05:01:00 GMT As Bush nears his departure, the vast majority of Americans-left, right and center-have a multitude of reasons why they're happy to see him go. Liberals believe Bush cut taxes too much and had an unnecessarily... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2009/01/20/bush_was_right_the_one_time_it_mattered_most a4d4b18d-fbff-435e-8120-253a46bd6821 Tue, 20 Jan 2009 05:00:29 GMT The most underreported story of the election is that conservative voters provided the margin of victory for Barack Obama-a finding that has dramatic implications for both Democrats and Republicans. Normally winning... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2008/12/04/how_conservatives_helped_elect_obama bcab3777-9c38-4529-832c-a1f9f3b61c28 Thu, 04 Dec 2008 05:01:00 GMT When Josh Mandel got a call from the Marines last year asking him to return voluntarily to Iraq, he had much more to contemplate than when he first enlisted in 2000. He had just been elected to the Ohio state... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2008/10/27/iraq_war_vet's_service_attacked_in_ohio_campaign 2ddb4957-f66d-4c80-b92b-7f2fa032bb5c Mon, 27 Oct 2008 04:00:33 GMT TEL AVIV, ISRAEL-Across Israel on the eve of the recent primary election likely to decide the next prime minister, most Israelis shared the same feeling: apathy. In stark contrast to the political theater playing out... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2008/10/03/apathy_in_the_holy_land 18044954-3d9f-4f5d-884c-51242aa0604a Fri, 03 Oct 2008 04:01:00 GMT Hell hath no fury like the Gray Lady scorned. This weekend, the venerable New York Times ran five hit pieces on Sarah Palin: three breathless op-eds, one blistering editorial and a scathing 3,200-word front-page... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2008/09/16/the_times_in_a_tizzy_over_palin 8c547724-d844-4adc-8ecf-fc5d5feb3398 Tue, 16 Sep 2008 04:00:02 GMT For the first time in this presidential cycle, social issues such as abortion took center stage this past week courtesy of the candidates' high-profile, back-to-back interviews at a mega-church last weekend. Yet the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2008/08/22/obamas_falsehood_the_truth_about_his_abortion_record ab3c00e1-d29e-49f9-a56f-f68d96f9c6ec Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:52:23 GMT SIMI VALLEY, CA-Striding to the podium without a hair follicle anywhere on his smooth face, Josh Mandel certainly didn't inspire high expectations at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley this past Sunday night. The former... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2008/07/03/ohios_rising_gop_star f779d265-0061-49e7-a471-06f8b9f0ef94 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:16:46 GMT In what might have been his most hawkish speech to date on the Middle East, Barack Obama sought to shore up his shaky support in the Jewish community with a security-first, diplomacy-second blueprint. Compared to the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2008/06/13/obamas_clintonism_what_he_really_meant_by_undivided_jerusalem a6226be6-8125-48f0-bed2-219652af07da Fri, 13 Jun 2008 04:01:00 GMT The long knives are out for Rev. John Hagee. The fiercely pro-Israel evangelical leader is being branded a bigot-again-but this time the media has tagged him with the worst possible association: Hitler. Granted, Hagee... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2008/05/30/hagee,_hitler,_and_the_holocaust 1f08609a-ed6e-4b8e-b347-3b883929d553 Fri, 30 May 2008 04:01:00 GMT ASHKELON, ISRAEL-Setting foot into the southern Israeli coastal city mall hit four days earlier by a Palestinian rocket, the natural expectation was to see ravaged shops and smashed kiosks. There were none. Stepping... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2008/05/28/miraculous_under_fire_aftermath_of_a_terror_attack e83ccee1-cb6a-4d99-9601-85276e49b290 Wed, 28 May 2008 04:01:00 GMT In the week since Sen. John McCain's high-profile speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, movement activists and icons have debated the merits of the man who has charted the most unusual path to the GOP... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2008/02/14/how_iraq_war_can_help_mccain_win_in_november 9beec00b-51c5-4d70-877d-727c3021460f Thu, 14 Feb 2008 05:00:12 GMT Given that hard evidence is often scarce in trials of unsuccessful terrorists, federal prosecutors in Miami no doubt felt fortunate to be trying defendants who participated in a ceremony pledging allegiance to al... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2008/01/31/yet_another_troubling_terror_trial b16f6e98-99a0-4602-9ec1-4a453ec99f1a Thu, 31 Jan 2008 05:01:00 GMT Defying the axiom that no bungling bureaucrat goes unrewarded, the woman ultimately responsible for the backlog of 2 million passports this year - and who then withheld the truth from Congress - was passed over for a... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2007/12/21/official_behind_open-door-for-saudis_to_resign 544df1e1-3c70-4d53-a9c3-a9e7e3b1c154 Fri, 21 Dec 2007 05:01:00 GMT Despite using a sham marriage to fraudulently obtain citizenship and having multiple personal connections to a suspected Hezbollah financier, Nada Nadim Prouty, a 37-year-old illegal alien from Lebanon, rose quickly... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2007/12/14/hezbollah's_girl 0fbeefb3-074c-482b-aeec-0400dc37ebbc Fri, 14 Dec 2007 05:01:00 GMT In the coming days or weeks, Columbia University is poised to decide on the tenure of controversial professor Joseph Massad, who has a reputation for intimidating Jewish and pro-Israel students in the classroom and... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2007/11/27/columbias_latest_embarrassment 976fc588-b06e-4ccc-9388-71d9fa90e56c Tue, 27 Nov 2007 05:01:00 GMT In the terrorism case of two young Egyptian nationals and University of South Florida students arrested August 4 in South Carolina, fascinating twists and turns abound. There's a secret recording of the defendants... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2007/11/15/media_silence_islamic_terrorism_case_ignored 5d6affa4-8731-475c-830c-e042ecab28bf Thu, 15 Nov 2007 05:01:00 GMT In the seven years since the start of what the Palestinians call the "intifada," perhaps no incident has inspired more Western criticism of Israel, nor generated as much terrorism against the Jewish state, than the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2007/09/25/palestinian_blood_libel 0d861445-98a7-41bc-9a82-b2963c685e33 Tue, 25 Sep 2007 04:00:57 GMT The tidy Western view of Palestinian politics coming down to Islamists versus secularists faces yet another reality check. Both Hamas and the supposedly secular Fatah are engaging in a new propaganda war, each... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2007/09/14/how_fatah_primed_palestinians_for_hamas 9d30a2e8-008b-4d79-ab08-6a9af50848e8 Fri, 14 Sep 2007 04:01:00 GMT Just over 24 hours before a scheduled speech it hosted by commentator Robert Spencer, Young America's Foundation found something unexpected sitting in the fax machine: A thinly veiled threat of a lawsuit if the group... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2007/08/03/cair_they_go_again! 523372f5-3004-4648-ae9a-d58354a96eb7 Fri, 03 Aug 2007 04:00:00 GMT While the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has been busy attacking syndicated columnist Cal Thomas recently for supposedly "Islamophobic" comments, the media-hungry group did not condemn the recent foiled... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2007/07/26/cair_condemns_columnist,_not_terrorists 03534ef2-debf-4dd7-a259-838636fb3214 Thu, 26 Jul 2007 04:00:58 GMT In what must have come as a shock to its readers, the New York Times reported that the July 7, 2005 terrorist attacks in London brought "home to Britain fears of homegrown terrorist attacks among its disenfranchised... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2007/07/06/see_no_muslims_the_ny_times_ignores_the_obvious 01601f35-e606-4ec6-a40a-a14d3fb5f121 Fri, 06 Jul 2007 04:00:52 GMT During a contentious Senate hearing last week, State Department consular chief Maura Harty took personal responsibility for the backlog of two million passport applications-leading to wait times of 12 weeks or... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2007/06/28/passport_outrage_official_who_caused_the_crisis_set_to_be_promoted c97d9424-68d6-490c-a490-984af5e574ab Thu, 28 Jun 2007 04:01:00 GMT How could the U.S. government be funding Hamas's university in Gaza? It's the question that has been asked often since my front-page story in the Washington Times earlier this month, from Capitol Hill to the State... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2007/03/29/how_we_fund_hamas_university cbad067f-21e1-4a78-9a5b-0d0973ed4543 Thu, 29 Mar 2007 04:01:00 GMT In what could be either a major turning point or just an aberration, Sen. Barbara Boxer recently rescinded an award given to a California resident because of his position with the Council on American-Islamic Relations... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2007/01/22/cair_rebuffed_by_boxer_a_turning_point a2275227-b93e-435d-8c6c-9c4c4ac82608 Mon, 22 Jan 2007 05:00:38 GMT With the release of an internal investigation last week, we now know that former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger not only knowingly flouted laws for handling classified documents, but he also went to incredible... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2007/01/09/how_sandy_berger_stole_state_secrets,_destroyed_evidence__got_off 422814c8-6ff0-4939-a09c-cfe4fa95ca7c Tue, 09 Jan 2007 05:00:35 GMT With the implosion of George Allen, movement conservatives no longer have a candidate in the presidential mix that looks and acts like one of them. Even though the field contains several heavy hitters, such as John... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2006/12/21/the_right_man_for_2008 81d2683b-04a6-4b57-a87c-d84d30e6ea95 Thu, 21 Dec 2006 05:00:12 GMT Within 48 hours of the enactment of the latest Middle East ceasefire, both Palestinian factions that signed on the dotted line violated the agreement by firing Qassam rockets into civilian areas, with the explicit goal... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2006/11/30/ceasefire's_victims_hamas'_qassams_keep_firing 63e7f046-4b99-49aa-a06e-f6f67bf97d48 Thu, 30 Nov 2006 05:00:43 GMT For those trying to learn election lessons, perhaps as good a place as any to start is in the state that received the most attention two years ago: Ohio. Democrats and liberal outside groups poured money into five... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2006/11/20/lessons_from_ohio_gop's_surprise_success_story a3a9a7de-2a4c-4c2b-8b5e-b20fc08d2e07 Mon, 20 Nov 2006 05:00:43 GMT Monday night, a Presidential hopeful from Arkansas dazzled a tough crowd of political insiders in New York City. No, not Hillary. Mike Huckabee. Yes, Mike Huckabee. Addressing the Monday Meeting, the influential... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2006/11/15/the_other_presidential_hopeful_from_arkansas 01f876ae-99f8-409a-b5f4-1ee73c14f7a6 Wed, 15 Nov 2006 22:07:50 GMT Barring a cataclysmic event, Minnesotans today will elect the first-ever Muslim to the U.S. Congress, and odds are the media serenade won't be far behind. What remains to be seen, though, is how many journalists will... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2006/11/07/cair's_congressman_will_the_media_care_about_his_troubling_ties 511e5804-d6dc-445d-9108-e59dc229ed6c Tue, 07 Nov 2006 05:00:33 GMT In a keynote speech last month to the American Task Force on Palestine, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sounded very unlike President Bush on the Middle East, lavishing praise on Palestinians and implicitly... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2006/11/03/condi's_dangerous_delusions 3383337e-879e-44ff-8880-ad19315d1223 Fri, 03 Nov 2006 04:00:03 GMT Heading into November, Democrats potentially have a story that ought to be both feel-good and helpful in appealing to a small, but growing constituency. The Democratic Congressional candidate for Minnesota's very blue... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2006/10/11/democrats'_dilemma_will_they_embrace_candidate_backed_by_cair b96202c0-c1ae-4d5a-bf58-6ca2a2f887e6 Wed, 11 Oct 2006 04:00:34 GMT HAIFA, ISRAEL-In the small camera store, a 30-something mother with two children in tow started screaming at the petite, gray-haired woman standing next to me. The older woman's offense? One of her feet was too close... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2006/09/21/normalcy_in_northern_israel bb0128c1-d203-4e12-9ca5-7dc16bfc08c5 Thu, 21 Sep 2006 04:00:47 GMT Today's Democratic primary in Minnesota's very blue fifth Congressional district could prove historic. If he wins, Keith Ellison would be all-but-assured to be the first Muslim ever elected to the U.S. Congressman. It... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2006/09/12/cair's_congressional_candidate ee0024bc-6019-493c-89e2-707bda99c371 Tue, 12 Sep 2006 04:34:33 GMT Months after Karen Hughes assumed the role of diplomat-at-large to the Muslim world, she told Time magazine that one of her two key influences on understanding Islam was Georgetown Prof. John Esposito. She's not alone.... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2006/09/01/georgetown_professor_mentors_"martyrdom"_supporter da34a2eb-f822-4ea5-8882-039161635fae Fri, 01 Sep 2006 04:00:00 GMT With Fox News reporter Steve Centanni and cameraman Olaf Wiig still being held hostage by Palestinian terrorists, the Western media has received a potent reminder that broadcasting certain truths from inside Arab... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2006/08/21/thuggery__trickery_how_islamic_terrorists_manipulate_the_media 9fabca6a-104f-4544-bf7a-3362e9a8d6b7 Mon, 21 Aug 2006 04:00:00 GMT Hiding behind potted plants, Naveed Haq laid in wait for a 14-year-old girl he could use as a hostage. With a gun in her back, he pushed his way past security and through the door. He coldly, deliberately shot six... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2006/08/10/media_ignores_or_downplays_homegrown_terror_attack_in_seattle 0d1fc54a-5b02-4906-81ab-eac27c1ed08c Thu, 10 Aug 2006 04:01:00 GMT Early in 2006, pro-Palestinian activists around the world were downright giddy at the momentum behind their efforts to brand Israel an apartheid state and "divest" accordingly. At the year's midpoint, however, the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2006/07/24/divestment_derailed-for_now f3c5eb4d-5b0e-4df8-b75f-78b42766bd65 Mon, 24 Jul 2006 04:00:00 GMT TZFAT, ISRAEL-The screams of the 9-year-old girl as she pushed through the door immediately grabbed everyone's attention. No amount of reassuring from her mother could truly comfort her. Wrapped inside her mother's... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2006/07/20/reporting_from_israel_inside_a_war-zone_hospital 91096573-a986-40e6-960c-17ecbfec918b Thu, 20 Jul 2006 04:01:00 GMT JERUSALEM-"Ariel Sharon would not have responded this strongly because he was so concerned with changing his image, and while Bibi would have done exactly the same thing as Olmert is, half of the country would have been... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2006/07/17/reporting_live_from_israel_unique_moment_of_unity 8246547d-7943-460a-8906-918277ea5a80 Mon, 17 Jul 2006 04:00:00 GMT TEL AVIV-When I got into the taxi yesterday morning, the very first thing the driver said was, "Did you hear that more children were kidnapped?" While international news reports refer to the men in uniform snatched... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2006/07/13/reporting_live_from_israel_hamas,_hezbollah,__the_war 4f22c53b-4e4b-42b1-ada7-6b105a869e5e Thu, 13 Jul 2006 04:00:00 GMT In a stunning move, President Bush's right-hand woman from his 2000 campaign last month sided with the Democratic members of the Broadcasting Board of Governors in shooting down the Republicans' preferred candidate to... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2006/07/11/karen_hughes_latest_mistake 01ac5fef-4614-4378-9924-a2934e1f1f2c Tue, 11 Jul 2006 04:00:00 GMT In the predictable stories reporting the “astonishment” of friends and neighbors about the Canadian terror suspects arrested last week, one tidbit serves as a cautionary tale for the threat of homegrown... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2006/06/14/why_strike_canada 353ed68b-fddb-4dba-9276-d7ac835d98cd Wed, 14 Jun 2006 04:06:00 GMT “We don’t give a rat’s ass what Ahmadinejad thinks about European history or what pissant speech the little s**t gives.”Pop quiz: Which historian and noted scholar of the contemporary Middle East... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2006/05/25/scared_silent_juan_cole_refuses_to_respond ffd49bad-bc1e-4c21-92f2-3a7fd20511da Thu, 25 May 2006 04:05:00 GMT After clearing a significant procedural hurdle earlier this month, University of Michigan professor Juan Cole, who is better known as a left-wing Israel-bashing blogger, could soon be offered a full tenured position at... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JoelMowbray/2006/05/23/god_and_juan_at_yale d286b709-621f-4c1f-8bd7-855cbb87a227 Tue, 23 May 2006 04:04:00 GMT