Travelers to our nation’s capital from Israel might feel a little more at home in the coming days, as Metro (the subway system) administrators are preparing to implement a new program that includes random bag checks when passengers enter a station. In Israel, security guards outside malls, office buildings, stores and restaurants search bags of […]
The U.S. Department of State regularly updates its country notes and send out the changes via email. Those country notes are worth perusing, as they provide a quick snapshot into countries’ cultures, economies, and political systems. The State Department just updated their Israel notes and they can be found here. The bulk of the notes […]
The Israeli clandestine service, the Mossad, has been criticized of late for some perceived setbacks. For example, the hit on a Hamas-affiliated terrorist in the Gulf was widely attributed to Israel because some of the assassins were videotaped and their passports were identified. In the Mossad’s past strikes, the clandestine agency left no traces, therefore […]
Both the Israelis and the Palestinians have an oft-evolving view of democracy and how their societies will, if at all, embody values that promote open discourse and equal rights. Israel is often characterized as the Middle East’sd only democracy, a title it rightfully claims because, for the most part, non-Jewish Israeli citizens enjoy equal rights. […]
This piece was written by Liora Hendelman-Baavur (Ph.D), a research fellow of the Center for Iranian Studies (CIS), who also teaches at the Department of Middle Eastern and African History at Tel Aviv University. On November 18, 2010 the Iranian news website Tabnak exposed a Persian pro-Nazi internet forum, operating under the virtual domain assigned to the […]
Aside from his many accomplishments as a football coach, Bill Parcells is famous for using the phrase “You are who you are”. Five words that summed up a career’s worth of championship football wisdom that can be directly applied to everything from personal psychology, to team dynamics, to international relations. Who says jocks are dumb? […]
Last Saturday, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri flew to Tehran to meet with President Ahmedinejad and other Iranian politicians. The purpose of the visit was to secure support for his country at a particularly tense time in Lebanese history, or at least in Hariri’s tenure as Prime Minister. The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), which […]
President Barack Obama issued a presidential determination today to suspend a 1995 law that requires the relocation of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. In a letter from Obama to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Obama says the 6 month extended suspension of the law “is necessary, in order to protect the national […]
Israel was just struck by one of the largest disasters in the country’s short history — a fire is sweeping through northern Israel and has already killed dozens. Out of this tragedy, several high points, low points and questions have emerged. The good: Israel’s neighbors are here to help, even the ones that have issued […]
When former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon created the Kadima party, he sought to form a middle ground between the left-leaning Labor movement and the right wing Likud of which he had previously been a part. Sharon — who has been described as a murderer due to his role commanding Israeli troops during the early 1980s […]
The incessant mantra in the Middle East is often that Israel (often called the “Zionist entity” or an “apartheid state”) is an unwelcome gnat hovering around Arab states’ peaceful picnic. In a defiant move, Egypt singed a peace accord with Israel, which was followed approximately a decade and a half later by Jordan. Israel remains, though, unacknowledged and […]
After decades of mistrust, the relationship between NATO and Russia is finally improving. A genuine partnership must develop in the long term, however at the summit in Lisbon on November 19 and 20, NATO intended to adopt a new strategy and also improve its relations with Russia. This is not the first time since the […]
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