Israel and Hezbollah have boxed themselves into a tight corner as the cross-border conflict in Lebanon and the Galilee intensifies and approaches the magnitude of an all-out war. In the past few days, both sides have hammered each other ferociously and relentlessly, with the scale of the fighting having reached the level of the 2006 […]
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has announced a “new phase” in Israel’s nearly year-long war of attrition with Hezbollah. It could well lead to a full-scale war with Hezbollah and possibly trigger a regional conflagration involving the United States, Iran, the Houthis in Yemen and pro-Iranian militias in Iraq. In short, a significant escalation of […]
How long can Israel tolerate the intolerable status quo along its northern border with Lebanon? Since October 8, Israel has been embroiled in a low-intensity war of attrition with Hezbollah — Hamas’ ally and Iran’s chief proxy in the Middle East — that has periodically degenerated into a full-scale war. Hezbollah’s secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, has […]
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s recent decision to suspend the export of some weapons to Israel was disappointing but not surprising. Starmer, the leader of the left-of-center Labor Party, is far more critical of Israel than his right-wing Conservative predecessor, Rishi Sunak, who was generally supportive of Israel’s just military campaign to eradicate Hamas and […]
The recovery of six deceased hostages on August 31 in a Hamas tunnel under the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah has further divided Israel. This combustible issue has torn the country asunder far more than Israel’s acceptance of German reparations in the 1950s, its lack of preparedness for the 1973 Yom Kippur War, its […]
As Israel fights Palestinian forces in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israeli troops have been drawn into a third front in the West Bank, which is inhabited by three million Palestinians and 500,000 Israelis. In the past few days, Israel has conducted significant counter-terrorism operations in the northern West Bank in a bid […]
Nearly a month after the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Iran has yet to fulfill its pledge to attack Israel in a retaliatory strike. Israel did not take formal responsibility for his death, but Iran is absolutely certain that Israel assassinated him, an assumption that rings true. Israel, however, had no hesitation […]
The relatively limited preemptive strikes by Israel in southern Lebanon in the early hours of August 25 appear to have dealt Hezbollah, Iran’s chief proxy in the Middle East, a punishing blow. Israel went on the offensive after learning that Hezbollah was on the cusp of launching a massive rocket and drone attack. The Israeli […]
Even as it is enmeshed in a multi-front war in the Middle East, Israel is busy creating facts on the ground in the West Bank to ensure that a Palestinian state is never established. Several days ago, an Israeli government agency, the Civil Administration, allotted 148 acres of land for Nahal Heletz, which will be […]
Optics matter, and yesterday, after Israeli aircraft bombed a Hamas command center in Gaza City where displaced Palestinian civilians were sheltering in place, the optics indeed looked bad for Israel. Around 90 or more Palestinians, including women and children, were killed in the air strike, and inevitably, Israel was subjected to a wave of international […]