Pounded relentlessly by a dizzying array of adversaries in the past few years, Islamic State is nonetheless back with a vengeance. The Easter Sunday suicide attacks in Sri Lanka, which claimed the lives of about 250 locals and foreigners, was the work of a local cell that had pledged allegiance to Islamic State. They were […]
The Trump administration’s designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization is correct and justifiable. U.S. President Donald Trump announced this policy on April 8 and his order took effect on April 15. From this point forward, wide-ranging economic sanctions will be imposed on the IRGC and companies, organizations and […]
Apart from prolonging Benjamin Netanyahu’s reign as Israel’s prime minister, the April 9 election reconfirmed the perception that the Israeli left has been marginalized in Israeli politics. On Election Day, the majority of Israelis voted for right-wing and centrist parties, leaving left-of-center and leftist parties in the dust with little more than electoral crumbs. As […]
Israeli voters have spoken loudly and clearly and essentially have opted for the status quo — more of the same from their longtime prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud Party, which has been in power for the past decade, won 35 Knesset seats in the April 9 general election, as many as Benny Gantz’s […]
Self- preservation defines Benjamin Netanyahu’s narrow approach to politics. It is what makes him tick as a politician. It is his end game. Four years ago, fearing he might lose the general election, Netanyahu issued a last-minute warning to wavering right-wing voters that “droves” of Israeli Arabs were being bused to polling stations by leftist […]
Two political parties, the first old and established and the second absolutely brand new, are striving for victory as Israel’s general election draws closer. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the right-wing Likud Party, faces a stiff challenge from Benny Gantz, the head of the newly-formed centrist Blue and White Party and the former chief […]
Islamic State, the fanatical organization that set the Middle East ablaze and ignited tremors in Europe, has been militarily defeated but not snuffed out of existence. Last week, Islamic State’s last pocket of territory in Syria was liberated after weeks of battle. Its imminent demise was forecast in January by U.S. President Donald Trump, who […]
He “did it again,” Benjamin Netanyahu gushed a few days ago. Israel’s prime minister was talking about another glittering prize U.S. President Donald Trump had presented to Israel on a silver platter. Netanyahu was referring to Trump’s historic tweet on March 21 recognizing Israel’s occupation of the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in the 1967 […]
Forty years ago, on March 26, Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty, the first between the Jewish state and an Arab nation. It has endured despite an array of challenges — the assassination of an Egyptian president, Israel’s invasion of a neighboring country, the eruption of the first and second Palestinian uprisings, and a […]
Hamas, the ruling authority in the Gaza Strip for more than a decade now, has shown its true face yet again. Responding to recent street demonstrations protesting the high cost of living, Hamas security forces used live fire to break up street protests. Journalists covering these events were beaten and arrested, as were human rights […]