It was a milestone in the annals of Israel’s bilateral relations with the Arab world. On December 13, Naftali Bennett became the first Israeli prime minister to visit the United Arab Emirates. It is one of four Arab countries that agreed to normalize relations with Israel under the diplomatic umbrella of the 2020 Abraham accords, […]
Israel and its chief ally, the United States, are squabbling over a variety of contentious issues. Their strategic relationship is being buffeted by disagreements concerning the Iran nuclear agreement, the expansion of Israel’s settlements in the West Bank, the planned construction of Israeli neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, and Israel’s decision to brand several Palestinian civic […]
Much to Israel’s consternation, international talks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement resumed in Vienna on November 29 after a five-month hiatus. The accord, hailed by U.S. President Barack Obama as a landmark achievement but greeted by Israel with apprehension, disappointment and scorn, granted Iran relief from crippling economic sanctions. In exchange for this […]
Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 20, 1981, U.S. Secretary of State Alexander Haig said the Reagan administration was trying to build a “strategic consensus” to counter the influence of the Soviet Union, its chief global adversary, in a region encompassing countries from Pakistan to Egypt. Claiming that the Soviet Union was […]
Last month, Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz designated six Palestinian civil and human rights groups in the West Bank as terrorist organizations with links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. This is an outfit whose armed wing has hijacked Israeli aircraft and carried out attacks against Israelis since the 1967 Six Day […]
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett wants the best of both worlds. He seeks to enlarge Israel’s footprint in the West Bank by expanding Jewish settlements while, paradoxically enough, reducing friction with the Palestinians. Bennett’s policy is contradictory, aimed at consolidating Israel’s occupation of the contested West Bank, encouraging the Palestinians to accept autonomy rather than […]
For Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s former prime minister, political survival is not only a means to an end, but an indicator of his true persona. Several days ago, Netanyahu — a secular Jew in every respect — showed his true colors when he retweeted an appallingly divisive message from Aryeh Deri, the leader of the ultra-Orthodox […]
Israel has a vital stake in the military coup that shook Sudan a few days ago. On October 25, a little more than a year after the United States announced that Sudan had agreed to forge official relations with Israel, chaos enveloped the capital, Khartoum, placing Israel’s normalization pact with Sudan under a cloud of […]
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s first face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Black Sea resort town of Sochi on October 22 appears to have been a success. Their talks were scheduled to last two hours, but went on for five hours, an unmistakable sign that matters of mutual importance were discussed on a […]
Benjamin Netanyahu is having a devilishly hard time internalizing the harsh reality that his days as Israel’s prime minister are behind him. From the moment he stepped down from his post on June 13 and was replaced by Naftali Bennett, his former cabinet colleague and defence minister, Netanyahu has been on the offensive in his […]