12/30/2018
The headlines regarding the Israeli government’s decision to move towards early elections in April were a textbook case of fake news. “Netanyahu’s government collapses! Israel heading for early elections,” was the basic gist of most of them. Israel’s last general elections to the national parliament, the Knesset, were held in March 2015. According to Israeli law, elections had to be held…
12/27/2018
In a recent conversation with a European ambassador, I asked about the possible consequences of the elections to the European parliament, which are scheduled to take place in May 2019. According to current polls, rightist, pro-Israel parties from a host of EU member nations are projected to win the vote in May. I was curious about the impact the projected…
12/26/2018
Tuesday night’s Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah and Iranian targets in the outskirts of Damascus were reportedly the largest Israeli strikes in Syria since September. Israel’s willingness to carry out the attacks, despite deteriorating relations with Russia, indicated that far from constraining Israel’s freedom of operation in Syria, the U.S. pullout may have the effect of empowering Israel to strike more…
12/21/2018
President Donald Trump’s sudden announcement Wednesday that he is removing U.S. forces from Syria shocked many. But it shouldn’t have come as a surprise, because the move is consistent with key aspects of Trump’s military and foreign policy. Trump promised to bring the 2,000 U.S. Special Forces home from Syria in April. When his announcement sparked opposition from the Pentagon and from…
12/20/2018
On its face, President Donald Trump’s announcement that he is pulling US forces out of Syria seems like an unfriendly act towards Israel. But it isn’t. Trump’s decision to pull US forces out of Syria is of a piece with outgoing US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley’s address on Tuesday to the UN Security Council regarding the Palestinian conflict with Israel.…
12/19/2018
It appears that Israeli-Saudi ties are one of the casualties of the Jamal Khashoggi affair. As a result of the outcry in the U.S. media and Congress following the recent murder of Saudi journalist and Muslim Brotherhood supporter Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, according to the Wall Street Journal, two key advisors to Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman (MBS) who were…
12/16/2018
The Left’s identity politics are becoming curiouser and curiouser for Jews. On the one hand, prominent leftists like Marc Lamont Hill, Tamika Mallory, and Linda Sarsour have no problem blowing on anti-Jewish dog whistles. On the other hand, some of their hard left comrades, like Representative-elect Alexandra Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) and New York state Senator-elect Julia Salazar (D-Brooklyn) are going…
12/16/2018
According to the Israeli media, during his meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Brussels last Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked for the U.S. to impose an economic embargo on Lebanon. Pompeo reportedly rejected Netanyahu’s request. The meeting between the two men took place on the eve of Israel’s initiation of Operation Northern Shield last Tuesday. The operation…
12/07/2018
Israel has no written constitution – but all the same, it is steeped in a deep and dangerous constitutional crisis. In the balance hangs nothing less than the country’s ability to remain a democracy, where the people elect their leaders and the elected leaders govern the country. Presently, a powerful group of unelected, self-appointed “gatekeepers” is challenging the foundations of…
12/06/2018
Israelis woke up last Tuesday morning to the news that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had initiated a new campaign called “Northern Shield.” The mission, which began in the middle of the night between Monday and Tuesday, is to destroy attack tunnels that Hezbollah, the Iranian-controlled terror army in Lebanon, has excavated. These tunnels begin in Lebanon and end in Israel. The…