Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has learned the hard way that his political relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump comes at a high price. While Trump has often been supportive of Israel, the United States’ chief ally in the Middled East, he has occasionally differed with Netanyahu on such hot button issues as Iran and […]
There has been a negotiated end to the war in Iran, but the volatile issues that triggered it have yet to be resolved. After nearly three months of arduous negotiations punctuated by periodic armed clashes, the United States and Iran reached a ceasefire agreement within the parameters of a memorandum of understanding on June 14. […]
Has Iran constrained Israel’s freedom of action in Lebanon? That’s the burning question observers have asked following Israel’s latest clashes with Iran on June 7 and June 8. The events that led to these flareups began when Hezbollah, Iran’s chief proxy in the Middle East, fired rockets and drones into the Galilee. Israel then bombed […]
Iran’s ballistic missile attacks against Israel on June 7 and June 8 were stunning yet not surprising. Iran — Israel’s arch enemy and Hezbollah’s chief ally in the Middle East — attacked Israel in retaliation for an Israeli air strike in Dahiyeh, a suburb south of Beirut and a Hezbollah stronghold. Israeli aircraft bombed Dahiyeh […]
Israel’s relationship with the United Arab Emirates is like no other in the Arab world. Israel has forged peace treaties and normalization accords with several Arab states since it signed a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979. But the bilateral ties Israel has formed with the UAE remain unique, as a recent news story indicated. […]
When the third round of U.S.-mediated Israel-Lebanon talks ended at the State Department in Washington on May 15, the United States announced a 45-day extension of the April 16 ceasefire in Lebanon. State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott sounded an upbeat note, describing the two-day talks as “highly productive.” “We hope these discussions will advance lasting […]
Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the Likud Party, is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, having held his post, on and off, for 18 years now. First elected in 1996, he went down to defeat in 1999, only to regain his job in 2009 after serving as foreign and finance minister. Swept out of office in June […]
The United States and Israel appear to have reached diametrically opposed conclusions regarding the outcome of the still unsettled war in Iran. The conflict erupted on February 28 when the U.S. and Israel jointly attacked Iran, targeting its leadership and military assets in daily air strikes. The war wound down on April 8 following a […]
Iran was decisively defeated by the United States and Israel in the 40-day war that broke out on February 28. Yet the Iranian regime has not only survived the onslaught, but has seized control of the vital Strait of Hormuz and is implicitly daring U.S. President Donald Trump to restart the war. Not exactly what […]
The 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon, which was due to expire on April 26, has been extended by three weeks until May 17. That is the good news. The bad news is that this tenuous truce has already crumbled. U.S. President Donald Trump was instrumental in prolonging the April 16 ceasefire during the second round of […]