A report released by Human Rights Watch on August 12 reinforces the widely-held perception/belief that Hamas committed war crimes during the Gaza border war with Israel this past May. Hamas, the governing authority in the Gaza Strip since 2006, fired 4,360 unguided rockets and mortars at Israel during the hostilities. Ninety percent were downed by […]
Israel’s relationship with Morocco is growing. Israel renewed bilateral relations with Morocco last December, following its normalization agreements with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan, all of which were brokered by the United States. The Israeli government initially compared its rapprochement with Morocco with that of the United Arab Emirates or Bahrain. Morocco, however, presented the […]
“This is an important milestone in Arab-Israeli relations,” said Anwar Gargash, the then United Arab Emirates’ minister of state for foreign affairs, last August, just a day after Israel and the UAE reached a historic normalization agreement. He was absolutely right. Israel’s accord with the UAE, its third peace treaty with an Arab state in […]
Israel is carefully considering its options following the latest attack by Iran on a cargo ship plying the waters of the Middle East. The Israeli government can opt for diplomacy, armed conflict or the status quo to deal with this serious and recurring problem. The Mercer Street, a 600-foot-long oil tanker, was attacked on July 29 […]
Lebanese President Michel Aoun is incredibly out of touch with reality. Judging by the comments he made on August 5, following a sudden escalation of tension on Israel’s border with Lebanon, one can only conclude that he inhabits a surreal, topsy-turvy world. On August 4, Palestinian forces in Lebanon fired three rockets at Israel. One […]
Is Russia running out of patience with Israel’s ongoing air campaign in Syria? Is Russia planning to curb them? These questions bubbled to the surface late last month after two related developments. First, the London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, citing a “well-informed” Russian source, claimed that Russia is planning a shift in its current policy […]
Lebanon was once a shining star in a dark constellation, a thriving democracy in an Arab sea of autocracy, but today it is little more than an increasingly dysfunctional state lurching from one crisis to the next. Almost a year ago after a massive and mysterious explosion in the port of Beirut killed more than […]
Two months after Jordanian parliamentarians unanimously passed a motion demanding the expulsion of Israel’s ambassador in Amman and the recall of Jordan’s envoy in Tel Aviv, Israel and Jordan have begun to take the first steps toward improving their contentious relationship. The resolution was passed on May 17 in protest over Israeli “crimes” against Palestinians in […]
Mustafa al-Kadhimi, the prime minister of Iraq, is due to arrive in Washington next month to discuss the future of the U.S. military presence in his country. His discussions with President Joe Biden could well be testy in light of recent events. Since Biden’s inauguration in January, pro-Iranian militias have increased the frequency of their […]
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is preparing for a crucial conversation with U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington, D.C. It will probably take place in August, after the newly-elected president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, assumes office. Late last month, Biden said he hopes to meet Bennett at the White House “very soon.” His press secretary, […]