It was a tense telephone conversation marking what may well be a turning point in Israel’s conduct of the war in the Gaza Strip and in its relationship with its key ally, the United States. U.S. President Joe Biden, in a half-hour call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on April 4, issued what amounted […]
Israel’s undeclared shadow war with Iran intensified on April 1 when it struck the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus, the capital of Syria. The air strike, carried out by a pair of F-35 stealth fighter jets, levelled what Iran claimed was its consulate. The blast killed 13 people, among whom were three Iranian generals from […]
A hospital is a protected area under international law, but it automatically loses that status when it is converted into a military facility. This is precisely what happened when Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical facility in the Gaza Strip, was cynically repurposed into a command center and operational hub by Hamas and Islamic Jihad. By […]
Nearly six months into the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, Israel’s strategic ties with the United States, its chief ally and benefactor, have come under increasing strain, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s relationship with President Joe Biden has been buffeted by strong turbulence. These tensions have flared amid a pronounced shift in U.S. public […]
It was a diplomatic earthquake that shook the Middle East to its foundations. Forty five years ago, Israel and Egypt transcended decades of mutual animosity and bloodshed and signed a peace treaty that endures to this day, despite the constant tumult in the region. This landmark agreement, the first between Israel and an Arab state, […]
Despite its best efforts, the United States and its allies have failed to stop the Houthis from disrupting the flow of commercial shipping in the Red Sea, one of the world’s busiest sea lanes. Hundreds of tankers thereby have been redirected to the longer and more expensive Cape of Good Hope route around South Africa, […]
A non-binding motion in support of peace in the Middle East was endorsed by Canada’s parliament on March 18 by a margin of 204-117. Brought to the floor by the left-wing New Democratic Party, it could hardly be described as a seismic shift in Canadian policy. Acknowledging its toothless character, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said […]
Israel has no alternative but to invade Rafah, Hamas’ last urban bastion in the Gaza Strip, despite objections from its chief ally, the United States. Having successfully decimated or disabled nearly all of Hamas’ 24 battalions since the start of its ground offensive on October 27, the Israeli government is obligated to finish the job. […]
The rift between Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu over the Israel-Hamas war is growing wider and is looking increasingly worrisome from Israel’s perspective. The tensions that have erupted in the last few months feel like a replay of Israel’s duels with the United States over the past six decades. David Ben-Gurion and Dwight Eisenhower clashed […]
Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a hopeless case as far as Israel is concerned. Turkey’s impetuous president is and has been extremely and unfairly critical of Israel since gaining national office in 2003. Time and time again, he has hurled gratuitous insults at Israel to satisfy his Islamic base at home, curry favor with the Palestinians, […]