Israel

Tel Aviv University, one of the strongest academic institutions in Israel, surpasses the top U.S. institutions in a key metric for universities — citations by other researchers. TAU Prof. Carlo Strenger writes in Haaretz: Tel Aviv University has been ranked number 11 worldwide in citations per faculty in 2010 – a truly staggering result. TAU […]

Former Israeli President Moshe Katsav, of Iranian descent, was convicted in December of rape and obstructing justice. He was sentenced today to seven years in jail. He has repeatedly denied any wrong doing, but was found guilty for rape, as well as molesting and sexually harassing several other women while serving as President. The Presidency […]

On Saturday, 50 rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip into Israel. This was the most concentrated attack from Gaza since the Israeli invasion in late 2008. What is more surprising than the attack is the fact that Hamas has taken credit. Hamas typically denies involvement, at least directly, into such acts. Credit was taken […]

This morning, Israel intercepted a ship, the “Victoria,” about 200 miles off of its Mediterranean coast.  The ship was believed to have departed from Syria, to have stopped over in Turkey and to be headed to the Egyptian port city of Alexandria. The Victoria is German owned and operated by a French shipping company. The […]

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told Israeli radio that the attack on Israeli settlers leaving five dead is “inhuman” and “immoral.” That condemnation is not nearly strong enough, as Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu criticized Abbas for not making his position clear. For example, Abbas could have spoken directly to the Palestinians through their media […]

Israel has viewed Turkey as an ally since before it declared statehood. Turkey, along with Ethiopia and Iran (the latter of course being a much different story) made up Ben-Gurion’s Periphery Doctrine. Recognizing that in the short-term, Israel would not be able to work with its Arab neighbors, he looked to reach out to Israel’s […]

The White House issued a stern call for the Palestinian Authority to condemn yesterday’s terrorist attack that left left five Israeli settlers dead, including two children and a baby. However, hours beforehand PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad expressed his outrage against the attack, although those words still leave a lot to be desired. The White […]

On Wednesday, at a memorial service for former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, current Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu decried the settlers “price tag” policy, a nebulous strategy which seeks to inflict violence and/or damage to neighboring Palestinians and their property. “I am certain Begin would have expressed grief and shock regarding this same small and […]

The United Nations accused Israel of kidnapping a Palestinian engineer while in Ukraine, with his wife contending that the abduction occurred to hinder work at an electrical plant in the Gaza Strip. According to Ynet: Abu Sisi’s Ukrainian wife, Veronika, 32, alleges the Israeli secret service Mossad carried out the abduction in order to sabotage […]

This week, both Denmark and Britain upgraded the status of the delegation of their Palestinian representatives. Both European nations moved their delegations from the third-ranked “general delegation” up to “mission.” While this means very little on the ground, it is a sign of warming relations between parties. And that is not all. Denmark and Britain […]

The White House officially nominated Hebrew-speaking, Middle East expert Dan Shapiro to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to Israel, the White House announced today. Speculation swirled last month that Shapiro would get the nod to replace James Cunningham in Tel Aviv. Shapiro is  a trusted White House aide who serves as the National Security […]

The Sufa border crossing between the southern Gaza Strip and Israel was opened today, in an unexpected move that could signal an ease of the blockade that keeps construction materials used to fortify terrorist infrastructure out of Hamas’ hands. Israel began an embargo on the Gaza Strip to prevent bomb- and rocket-making supplies from reaching […]