More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the current war between Israel and Hamas, the third in six years. As the Canadian branch of Amnesty International notes, Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip have borne the brunt of the fighting. While innocent Palestinians die needlessly, their homes and businesses pulverized, Hamas leaders and […]
Amid the acrimonious charges and counter-charges they’ve hurled at each other since the war in the Gaza Strip erupted 19 days ago, Israel and its arch enemy, Hamas, concur on one salient point: Neither side wants to return to the status quo ante that prevailed before Israel launched Operation Protective Edge on July 8. What […]
Shimon Peres, one of the last members of Israel’s founding generation, vacated his position as Israeli president on July 24 after an illustrious six-decade career as a politician, statesman and civil servant. He stepped down as Israel continued to wage its third war against Hamas in six years. Typically, he was in the thick […]
On July 18, two days before the deadline for reaching a permanent agreement on the future of Iran’s controversial nuclear program was due to expire, six major powers and Iran agreed to extend the talks by four months to Nov. 24, matching the day an interim accord was signed in Geneva in 2013. In commenting […]
Israel’s strained relationship with Turkey has grown considerably colder since Israel and Hamas went to war 11 days ago. After the Israeli armed forces launched Operation Protective Edge, Turkey urged Israel to immediately halt its offensive, warning it would jeopardize ongoing efforts to normalize bilateral ties. With Turkey’s plea having fallen on deaf ears, Turkish Prime […]
A few days ago, a diplomat said, “The missiles that are now being launched against Israel, each and every missile, constitute a crime against humanity, whether (they) hit or miss, because (they) are directed against civilian targets.” He added that Israel issues a warning to Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip before a particular site […]
On July 11, during the opening phase of Operation Protective Edge, Israel’s current cross-border war with Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finally came clean. He cited the war as a prime example of why he will neither make significant territorial concessions in the West Bank nor allow the Palestinians to exercise full sovereignty within […]
Israel’s just military response to Hamas aggression has not found favor in South Africa’s ruling circles. The deputy secretary-general of the African National Congress, Jessie Duarte, issued a blatantly one-sided statement a few days in which she compared Israel’s response to Nazi atrocities. As she put it, “The African National Congress condemns in the strongest […]
We have been there before. For the third time in five years, Israel and Hamas are fighting a cross-border war, with no end in sight. Now entering its fifth day, it may yet turn into a lengthy and bloody conflict, since both sides are hell-bent on attaining certain objectives and are certainly in no mood […]
Israel’s invariably tense and uneasy relations with the Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have hit a new low of late. The collapse of U.S.-brokered peace talks in April, ending nine months of negotiations between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority, engendered mutual acrimony, mistrust and bitterness — the toxic ingredients […]