Even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new Israeli government was sworn in on May 14, the 34th since 1949, he reiterated his interest in enlarging his cabinet and making it more representative of the country. In the general election on March 17, the Likud won 30 seats, more than any other party. In lengthy negotiations […]
The Palestinians can’t get their act together, no matter how often and how hard they try. A little more than a year after signing a national reconciliation agreement — which Israel vigorously opposed and denounced as inimical to peace — Fatah and Hamas remain at loggerheads over a litany of divisive issues. As a result, […]
The United States and Iran are enemies yet partners in the fast-changing political landscape of the Middle East. As the old saying goes, politics makes for strange bedfellows. Once Iran’s close ally, Washington severed diplomatic relations with Tehran in 1979 after its embassy in Iran was seized by an Iranian mob. Since that momentous moment, […]
The specter of Islamic extremism haunts Europe. For about the past decade, a succession of young European Muslims fired up by Islamic radicalism have carried out one terrorist assault after another — from the train bombing in Madrid in 2004 that claimed the lives of 191 Spanish commuters to the attacks on the French satirical […]
According to news reports from Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin have both turned down invitations to meet Jimmy Carter, the former president of the United States, due to their perception that he’s adopted “anti-Israel positions.” Carter is supposed to arrive in the region within the next 10 days, but it looks […]
Having harshly criticized the nuclear framework agreement signed by Iran and the six major powers in Switzerland on April 2, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has launched a campaign to ensure that the final accord, due to be signed on June 30, will be substantially strengthened by iron-clad guarantees and safeguards. Netanyahu’s fears are understandable. […]
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims that the framework nuclear agreement signed by the six major powers and Iran in Lausanne on April 2, following eight days of gruelling talks, exceeds his worst fears and threatens Israel’s survival. What he fails to mention is that it will probably save the Middle East from another war. […]
For the first time in decades, Arab states have agreed in principle to create a pan-Arab fighting force, but one must wonder whether it will ever become operational, given the conflicting objectives of its primary sponsors, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Lest it be forgotten, previous Arab military forces have crumbled into dust. The proposal to […]
The shaky relationship between Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu has grown progressively worse in the past three weeks due to Netanyahu’s hardline policies and cynical electioneering tactics and Obama’s cold calculation that he can politically afford to say and do what what he pleases in the homestretch of his presidency. And because both sides are convinced […]
Picture this. The conservative prime minister of a major country in Europe calls a general election, confident he will win another term. Much to his chagrin, pollsters inform him he’s fallen behind his main competitor and may yet lose. In desperation, he issues an appeal to his core constituents. He says, “Right-wing rule is in […]