Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the Saudi Arabian foreign minister, recently reminded Israelis that the tantalizing prospect of Arab normalization with Israel has been on the table for nearly two decades now. As he suggested on April 2, Arab states offered Israel full normalization of relations at an Arab League summit in Beirut in March 2002. […]
There was a disturbing disconnect in Jerusalem yesterday. A day after lead prosecutor Liat Ben-Ari opened the evidentiary phase of Benjamin Netanyahu’s trial on charges of bribery, breach of trust and fraud, President Reuven Rivlin asked the sitting prime minister to try to form a new government. With Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud Party having emerged from […]
The United States and one of its key allies in the Middle East, Turkey, remain at odds over an array of contentious issues. The rift between Washington and Ankara may widen during the presidency of Joe Biden, who has yet to make a much-awaited phone call to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom he previously […]
Israel is mired in a state of political paralysis yet again after its fourth election in less than two years. Much to the frustration of Israelis, a fifth election may be looming. Neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing partners, nor his opponents on the right, center or left, won enough seats to cobble together […]
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted indignantly to the recent announcement by Fatou Bensouda, the outgoing chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, that a formal investigation would be launched into allegations that Israel — and the Palestinians — committed war crimes in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Bensouda, who steps down from her […]
Syria has been in agony for the past ten years, its self-inflicted torment expected to fester indefinitely. A decade ago, on March 15, President Bashar al-Assad’s Baathist regime violently crushed peaceful demonstrations around the country, setting off a civil war in this predominately Sunni Muslim nation. Syrians in large numbers took to the streets to […]
The circumstances of Robert Levinson’s abduction, arrest and probable death in Iran remain a deep mystery. The former FBI agent disappeared on the Iranian island of Kish on March 7, 2007 and has not been seen in person since that dark day. Several days ago, though, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called upon Iran “to provide […]
Egypt’s Ministry of Education recently made an important announcement: a new course on common values from the three Abrahamic religions — Islam, Judaism and Christianity — had been approved and will be phased in at schools throughout the country. This is an encouraging development. For the first time ever, Muslim students in Egyptian schools will […]
Israel’s chilly bilateral relations with Jordan may be thawing following a series of recent meetings between Israeli and Jordanian leaders. In the past few weeks, Defence Minister Benny Gantz has met King Abdullah II and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi has conferred with Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi to discuss a range of political and economic issues […]
With the March 23 election in Israel looming, Merav Michaeli, the new leader of Israel’s once dominant Labor Party, is working to restore it to its former preeminence. “The Labor Party is back on its feet,” she said during a Zoom lecture on February 25 sponsored by the American Friends for Peace Now. “We’re at […]