On December 18, the United States belatedly announced the formation of a coalition of nations to curb Houthi attacks on cargo ships and oil tankers plying the waters of the Red Sea, through which 12 percent of global trade passes. It was a long overdue move. Houthi pirates in Yemen, backed by Iran, have been […]
In the past month, the Israeli government has issued a series of stark warnings to Hezbollah and the Lebanese authorities that Lebanon could be dragged into a fullscale war with Israel. Israeli officials have warned Lebanon that a major war could erupt if diplomacy falls short of inducing Hezbollah to withdraw from Israel’s border or […]
It was, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu succinctly said, “an unbearable tragedy.” On the morning of December 15, three male Israeli hostages held by Hamas since the October 7 massacre — Yotam Haim and Alon Shamriz of kibbutz Kfar Aza and Samar Fouad Talalka of kibbutz Nir Am — were mistakenly killed in a […]
The clock is ticking ever more loudly. Israel is under increasing international and U.S. pressure to scale down its land and air offensive in the Gaza Strip. But the Israeli government insists that it will press on relentlessly until Hamas is categorically defeated, no longer poses a threat to its security, and is removed as […]
The war that Israel is currently waging against Hamas in the Gaza Strip has adversely affected its bilateral relations with Arab and Muslim countries and a host of other nations. Since Israel’s invasion of Gaza on October 27, in response to Hamas’ massacre of 1,200 Israelis and foreigners on October 7, two Arab states — […]
Thankfully, the United States has vetoed what could have been a binding and potentially dangerous United Nations resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire to end the two month-old Israel-Hamas war. Sponsored the United Arab Emirates, and supported by the permanent and non-permanent members of the Security Council, yesterday’s motion would have placed enormous international pressure […]
Ten days after Hamas terrorists stormed southern Israel in a devastatingly effective attack that claimed the lives of 1,200 Israelis and foreigners and shattered its sense of security, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned that Israel’s ferocious military response would cause a violent reaction throughout the Middle East. His prediction has proven to be […]
Lloyd Austin, the U.S. secretary of defence, has walked a twisted road since that horrendous day of infamy on October 7. At the outset, he offered Israel unflagging support to crush Hamas once and for all. But the other day, he changed course, warning Israel that Palestinian civilians caught in the crossfire must be protected […]
As expected, war has returned to the Gaza Strip following a tenuous week-long truce during which 81 Israeli and 24 foreign hostages were freed from captivity in exchange for the release of 210 Palestinian prisoners and the renewed flow of humanitarian supplies into that battered coastal enclave. Hamas still holds 137 hostages, of whom 126 […]
Yair Golan, the former deputy commander of Israel’s armed forces, has cast doubt on the feasibility of an Israeli ground invasion of the southern Gaza Strip, the probable locale of Hamas’ leadership. Speaking at a Canadian Friends of Peace Now webinar several days ago, Golan said the Israeli army will find it “almost impossible” to […]