Analysis & Commentary
How Iran Benefits From an Illicit Gold Trade With Turkey
Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has arrived in Washington, D.C. for a much-anticipated summit with President Barack Obama. The timing of the visit -- amid reports of chemical weapons...
Iran’s Extending Influence in East Africa
The Sudan Tribune reported last week that Iranian forces were preparing to train Sudan’s navy. The move was not exactly surprising. In the last few months alone...
Stephen Hawking Should Go to Israel — and Gaza
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel has done nothing to cripple the Jewish state’s economy. But it has scored a few big symbolic victories.
MSC in Jerusalem Member Targeted By Israeli Air Force
Today the Israeli Air Force (IAF) carried out an airstrike in the Gaza Strip in response to recent rocket fire from the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula. According to a statement...
Salafi Jihadist Supporters Protest Hamas’ Arrest Campaign
Supporters of Salafi jihadists in the Gaza Strip are increasing their protests against Hamas both online and in public as some Salafi jihadists begin hunger strikes to protest their imprisonment by Hamas.
Hamas, Qatar Ties Strengthen
Hamas has reelected a prominent Qatar-based official to head its inner circle, further solidifying ties between the terror group and the wealthy Islamic government, according to reports.
Hamas Leadership Selection: An Initial Assessment
After months of fits and starts, Hamas finally completed its internal leadership elections, news sources report. The head of the politburo will again be Khaled Meshal, who had previously expressed his intent to step down.
Flotilla Follies
Anti-Israel activists are preparing to launch another flotilla aimed at breaching Israel’s naval blockade of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip three years after a similar endeavor led to a deadly encounter with Israeli soldiers.
Now Obama Needs to Pressure Turkey
In a surprise development on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued an apology to Turkish Prime Minister Yayyip Erdoğan over the ill-fated May 2010 flotilla conflict on the high seas between Israeli...
Israel-Turkey Reconciliation Begins Following Netanyahu Apology
Israel and Turkey took steps to restore ties nearly three years after the deaths of nine Turks on an aid flotilla to the Gaza Strip as the U.S. sought to bolster an allied front in an increasingly unstable Middle East.
Boiling Point
Unrest is growing in the Palestinian territories ahead of President Barack Obama’s first visit to Israel on March 20. Riots and protests have erupted throughout the West Bank...
Al Qaeda-Linked Groups Increasing Contact with Salafi Groups in Nile Delta and Sinai
Egyptian officials are worried that they are seizing only a fraction of the weaponry entering the Sinai Peninsula from Libya. And in contrast to earlier arms shipments, which were destined for the Gaza Strip,...
John Kerry Roasts Turkey
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is not a man who minces words. He has called Israel a “terrorist state” and has suggested that “Allah would punish” Israel for its inhumane actions in Gaza.
Abbas Needs an Heir Apparent
President Obama's visit to the Middle East next month is widely billed as an earnest attempt to double down on diplomacy and revive the moribund peace process between the Israelis and Palestinians.
Unlikely Peacemakers
Conventional political wisdom has long held that the Palestinian issue is the key to the Middle East. Yet as Elliott Abrams points out in "Tested by Zion: The Bush Administration and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,"...
Under Fire
This small, working-class Israeli city on the edge of the Negev Desert, home to refugees from Muslim lands, Ethiopia, Eastern Europe and elsewhere, is world-famous for one thing only...
Smugglers Galore
An explosion in southern Lebanon last week destroyed what is believed to have been a Hezbollah weapons depot. This latest in a series of mysterious “accidents” in Hezbollah-controlled precincts proved...
Analysis: What Do Mideast Christians Face in ’13?
Growing persecution of Middle Eastern Christians and holy sites by radical Islamists in the Middle East and Africa in 2012 resulted in large numbers of murders, bombings, imprisonments, church closures...
After Abbas
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas went to the United Nations last month and brought his people one step closer to statehood. But amid all the fanfare, Western diplomats quietly conceded that the General Assembly...
Dictators and Dissidents
The think tank I head up organizes an annual policy conference that has to be planned many months in advance, so we always worry that the theme we choose will be embarrassingly outdated by the time...
