By Yaakov Katz, JPost— In a historic reversal of US policy, the Trump administration announced on Monday that it does not view Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal. The policy change was announced by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington. “After carefully studying all sides of the legal debate, this administration agrees…
DetailsBy Khaled Abu Toameh, Gatestone— Iran’s Palestinian proxies, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), after last week’s round of aggression towards Israel, are said to be at odds with each other. PIJ is reportedly disturbed that Hamas did not join in firing rockets at Israel in retaliation for Israel’s assassination of senior PIJ commander Bahaa…
DetailsBy Inna Rogatchi, Times of Israel—- Genius & Anxiety. How Jews Changed the World, 1847-1947 by NORMAN LEBRECHT, Oneworld, 2019, 442 pages. This book is a joy. Concise, vivid, well-written, in clear antithesis to banality, it is a fine journey throughout most eventful century of modern history viewed in original detail. It also vividly portrays…
DetailsBy Ehud Eilam, JPost— The recent clash in the Gaza Strip was not like earlier ones there because it was only between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and Hamas was not really involved. This could be a model for the future in which Israel might strike the PIJ while Hamas again stays out of…
DetailsBy Prof. Eytan Gilboa, BESA Center— Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu recently warned that increasing Iranian provocations and the absence of a US response could lead to a dangerous military confrontation between Israel and Iran. This warning is perceived by some as mere fear-mongering in the wake of two non-conclusive elections. Neither of the two leading…
DetailsBy Inna Rogatchi, Times of Israel— I always thought that it is impossible to explain our life to anyone who did not live through it. When I wrote my books on Soviet realities, taught the contemporary Soviet history in several Western universities, authored numerous columns and articles on what we lived through, was given hundreds…
DetailsBy Ron Jager— As a kid growing up on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, snow days were special events that we waited for all winter long. As kids we would rejoice, while our parents would be stuck at home worrying about not being able to get to work for a day or two. For…
DetailsBy Emet— BAHA ABU AL-ATA AND THE ISLAMIC JIHAD On November 12, 2019 at 4:00am (Israel Time) the Israeli Air Force conducted a surgical airstrike against Baha Abu Al-Ata. The Israeli Security Cabinet authorized over a week ago, in accordance to the recommendation of the Israeli military, secret service, and intelligence community, to eliminate Al-Ata…
Detailsby Gadi Golan , Lilach Shoval , News Agencies , Israel Hayom Staff—- The Israeli Air Force struck several Islamic Jihad targets in the Gaza Strip in the predawn hours of Friday morning in response to four rocket attacks by the Iranian-backed terrorist group, which violated a ceasefire announced on Thursday. According to the military,…
DetailsBy Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz, Breaking Israel News— Israel’s newly appointed Defense Minister’s first week was challenging with over 400 rockets fired at Israel from Gaza but he began it in proper fashion. After being sworn in on Tuesday morning, Bennett spent the night in the ministry dealing with the Islamic Jihad attacks. Yeshiva World reported…
DetailsBy Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks— The hate that begins with Jews never ends with Jews. That is what I want us to understand today. It wasn’t Jews alone who suffered under Hitler. It wasn’t Jews alone who suffered under Stalin. It isn’t Jews alone who suffer under ISIS or Al Qaeda or Islamic Jihad. We…
DetailsBy Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman, JPost-— When the news reached Joab, who had conspired with Adonijah though not with Absalom, he fled to the tent of the Lord and took hold of the horns of the altar” (1 Kings 2:28). This passage in the Bible may have come to life just a few weeks ago for a…
DetailsRecently, Turkish President (read: Dictator) Recep Tayyip Erdogan used his appearance before the UN General Assembly to rail against Israel and its “oppression” of the Palestinian Arabs. During the rant, Erdogan hinted at his militaristic ambitions (already being manifest in Turkey’s onslaught against the Kurds) by suggesting that if the international community remained unwilling to…
DetailsBy Times of Israel— Syrian President Bashar Assad on Thursday charged that all the forces it has been fighting during the country’s eight-year civil war were “tools serving Israel directly or through the Americans,” and said he doesn’t recognize the existence of the modern-day nation of Israel. In a wide-ranging prerecorded interview on state television,…
DetailsBy Amiel Ungar, Jerusalem Post—- Maybe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can tough it out over the post-election maneuverings and both head off another do-over election and entice Blue and White into a unity government. But even if that were to happen, Netanyahu would still be headed for his last rodeo. He would retain the premiership…
DetailsI hesitate to talk about the status of Israel’s political situation because as I am recording this there is a good chance that the situation has changed entirely and my update will be irrelevant. But I also feel strange not talking about it because it is the hot issue in Israel right now and so…
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