Negotiations between Likud and its coalition partners toward the formation of Israel's next government have only just begun. But the campaign to undermine the government-in-formation's ability to determine Israel's future course is already well underway. Incoming Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu must understand the traps being set for him and their sources. And as he builds his government, he must appoint…
Since the Democratic Party's presidential primaries a year ago, there has been an ongoing debate about how Barack Obama perceives the U.S. alliance with Israel. After he entered office last month, the need to understand what President Obama thinks about Israel has become acute as we attempt to make sense of his emerging strategy of appeasement for dealing with Islamic…
Last week I taped an interview with Avi Schnurr, the Director of Israel's Missile Defense Association. I thought that PJTV would broacast it the next day, but it works out, they saved it for tomorrow so you'll be able to watch it then. In the meantime, yesterday they broadcast an updated commentary from me on Israel's elections and today they…
Who can recall the olden days when Kadima was young and proudly proclaimed its identity as the one Israeli political party that stands for nothing? Two days before the 2006 elections, Kadima's Meir Sheetrit grandly announced that his party was the only party in Israel that "has disengaged from ideology." But look at Kadima now. As far as its leader…
While most Americans were busy celebrating Valentine's Day, last Saturday the Obama administration announced that it would send a delegation to Geneva to participate in planning the UN's so-called Durban II conference, scheduled to take place in late April. Although largely overlooked in the US, the announcement sent shock waves through Jerusalem. The Durban II conference was announced in the…
This is just an update that as a follow-up to my column today, I interviewed Avi Schnurr, the Executive Director of Israel's Missile Defense Association on my weekly program with PJTV. The interview is in addition to my regular weekly commentary on the website. Both should be posted in a few hours at PajamasTV
The outgoing Kadima-Labor government's anticipated decision to release a thousand terrorists, including several dozen mass murdering terror commanders, in the framework of a ceasefire deal with Iran's Palestinian proxy Hamas is simply the latest troubling legacy that the Olmert-Livni-Barak government is leaving its successor. Once the deal goes through, Hamas will be able to quickly expand the threat it poses…
Who won the election on Tuesday night and what do the results tell us about the composition of the next government? Israeli voters decided two things on Tuesday. First, they decided that they want the political right to lead the country. Second, leftist voters decided that they want to be represented by a big party, so they abandoned Labor and…
Essentially, the exit polls (which are notoriously inaccurate and tend towards the left here), show that the right-wing won the elections and the left-wing lost. But they also show that the public has little faith in Binyamin Netanyahu. Moreover, they show that Tzipi Livni ran the race of a lifetime and will have the capacity to make life difficult for…
As we go to the polls today, the world around us is quickly changing in new and distressing ways. The challenges the international system will present the government we elect will be harsher, more complicated and more dangerous than the ones its predecessors have faced. Bluntly stated, the world that will challenge the next government will be one characterized by…