Middle East

Can the Biden administration capitalize on an inexperienced Bennett-Lapid government?

By Dmitriy Shapiro (June 9, 2021 / JNS) With the likelihood that new leadership will be sworn in next week in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s departure from the role he has held for almost two decades has some worried about how an inexperienced leadership spanning the breadth of viewpoints will handle Israel’s important relationship […]

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Middle East, USA

Exclusive – In the belly of the whale: Israeli sub simulates strike

Published by Reuters By Dan Williams INS LEVIATHAN, Mediterranean Sea (Reuters) – When fighting erupted in Gaza last month and rockets rained on Israel, the men operating its navy submarine Leviathan knew next to nothing. Deep beneath the Mediterranean sea, they were relayed only brief bulletins so as not to be distracted from their mission.

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Middle East

Cautious Optimism After Israel’s Political Deadlock

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — About three years ago my husband and I rescheduled our flight back to Israel from London, at considerable financial and personal cost, because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had called a snap general election. We were determined to cast our votes in order to get rid of the party

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East

UAE Leader: Abraham Accords Will Show Other Arab Countries Benefits of Peace with Israel

Following the news that the American Jewish Committee will open an office in Abu Dhabi, the organization hosted United Arab Emirates Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Monday at its 2021 AJC Virtual Global Forum. [JNS.org]

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Middle East, USA

Black Lives Matter Should Stick to Its Core Issue; Leave Israel Out of It

How does the Black Lives Matter movement find the time and energy to brand Israel as an apartheid and genocidal state and equate its policies with police brutality? And why don’t any BLM members speak up about those among their associates who have diverted attention from the primary issue that inspired the Black Lives Matter campaign? [Bruce S. Ticker]

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Bruce Ticker, Middle East, USA

UCSD Graduate Students Choose Harmony Over BDS

StandWithUs commends the Graduate & Professional Student Association (GPSA) of the University of California San Diego (UCSD) for rejecting a destructive and one-sided resolution calling for an academic boycott against Israel on Monday, June 7, 2021. GPSA representatives instead voted to form a committee that will include Israeli, Jewish, and Palestinian students who will work together to develop an unbiased resolution that supports both Israeli and Palestinian student communities.  [StandWithUs news release]

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Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Israeli army clarifies reasons for attack on media offices in Gaza

Published by DPA Following the controversial airstrike on a building housing media offices in the Gaza Strip several weeks ago, Israel’s military has elaborated on the reasons for the destruction of the high-rise building. The Islamist Hamas movement had been working there on technology to disrupt the deployment of Israel’s “Iron Dome” missile defence system,

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Middle East

Bye Bye Bibi — But Not Yet

A half hour before the end of his mandate, Yair Lapid announced to the President the formation of a government.

It’s something of a mess. Eight or nine parties, or portions of parties. Still some issues having to be sorted out. And Bibi is not going quietly, to be head of the opposition, accused of three crimes, and in a trial that may last for years, or until there’s an agreement about a plea bargain. [Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D]

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East

Israel’s Netanyahu alleges election fraud, accuses rival of duplicity

Published by Reuters By Maayan Lubell JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday a newly formed Israeli coalition that is poised to unseat him was the result of “the greatest election fraud” in the history of democracy. He made his sweeping accusation at a time when Israel’s domestic security chief has warned

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Middle East

Hamas Winning Propaganda War on Social Media

Despite Israel’s strict adherence to international law and the use of limited proportionate force against the terrorist targets, the unrelenting global hate chorus accuses the IDF of war crimes. Hamas has been very clever in selling itself as the victim on social media, and the new battlefield front of multidimensional public opinion. [Nitsana Darshan-Leitner]

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International, Middle East, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA