The first day of 2022 in Israel had an awfully familiar ring to it. During the early hours of January 1, two rockets were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip. One exploded in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Jaffa. The second landed in the water near Palmachim, south of Rishon Lezion. Israeli […]
Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas are driving in opposite directions, judging by their second direct meeting since the formation of Israel’s new government in June. On December 28, Gantz invited Abbas to his home in Rosh Ha’ayin. It was Abbas’ first meeting with a senior Israeli official in Israel […]
Mansour Abbas, the leader of the Islamist Ra’am Party and a supporter of Israel’s governing coalition government, is a realist. Judging by two of his most recent comments, he has a sound appreciation of the political environment in Israel. Several days ago, at a conference in Tel Aviv sponsored by the Hebrew-language Globes newsmagazine, Abbas […]
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 […]