Video: Ehud Yaari: Israel confronts challenges on six fronts
November 11, 2015
Renowned Israeli journalist and author Ehud Yaari describes the current situation for Israel and the complicated challenges it faces…
The Upcoming Obama-Netanyahu meeting/ Misremembering Rabin’s Legacy
November 6, 2015
This Update features two previews of the upcoming Netanyahu-Obama meeting on Sunday – the first between the two leaders in more than a year marked by often bitter disagreement about the nuclear deal with Iran. It also features a piece correcting some myths which have appeared in some of the numerous comments about the legacy of murdered Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin written to mark the 20th anniversary of his death.
Will the deal to preserve the Temple Mount “status quo” hold?
November 5, 2015
Last weekend, US Secretary of State John Kerry met with Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian leaders and came up with an understanding to preserve the religious status quo on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, as well as a Jordanian proposal, accepted by Israel, to place 24-hour surveillance cameras there to clarify any controversies about what has been occurring. The Israeli government for its part affirmed in a televised statement that it will “continue to enforce its longstanding policy: Muslims pray on the Temple Mount; non-Muslims visit the Temple Mount.” The Palestinians, however, have rejected the idea of security cameras, calling them a “trap”, reportedly angering the Jordanians.
Who is really challenging the “status quo” in Jerusalem?
November 4, 2015 | Sharyn Mittelman
This past month Israel has faced a wave of Palestinian terror attacks, with many attacks incited by the false claim that Israel is changing the status quo on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. But a quick look at recent events reveals that it is not Israel but the Palestinian leadership that has been seeking to change the “status quo” in Jerusalem’s Old City.
Latest Palestinian conspiracy theory: Israel is fabricating the stabbing attacks
November 2, 2015 | Or Avi Guy
The distortion of reality in Palesinian propaganda is now being taken to the next level, or a new low, with reports in Palestinian media that Israel is intentionally fabricating stabbings to conceal and justify the killing of ‘innocent’ Palestinians.
Incitement means no end in sight
October 29, 2015 | Ari Wenig
Amidst the recent surge in violence and terror attacks in Israel, Palestinian men, women and children continue to be incited to violence against Israeli soldiers and civilians. Videos, cartoons, blogs and posts on social media are being used by Fatah, the Palestinian Authority, and the Palestinian media, as a call-to-action for average Palestinian citizens to sacrifice their lives, and transform themselves into ‘martyrs’ for the cause of ‘Palestinian liberation’. It seems this cause is secondary however, to the murder of Jews, and the destruction of the State of Israel.
Khamanei tries to re-write nuclear deal
October 29, 2015
Last week, on Oct. 18, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Iran nuclear agreement reached in July, was officially “adopted” under the complicated schedule for implementation which was part of the agreement. And a few days later, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – who had never previously publicly endorsed the deal – wrote a letter to Iranian President Rouhani which was reported as giving “tepid approval” for it. In fact, as this Update discusses, that letter seemed to require the Iranian government to re-write key elements of the deal before it could be implemented. (The full text of the letter in Iran’s official translation – as well as Khamenei’s accompanying facebook post – can be read here).
More insights on the terror wave in Israel/Bibi’s Holocaust gaffe
October 23, 2015
This Update leads with some additional knowledgeable insights into what is fuelling the current wave of murderous violence in Israel – with Palestinians on a daily basis attacking Jews at random throughout the country, often using knives. (Yesterday saw two attackers with knives try to board a school bus then stab a teenager outside a a synagogue in Bet Shemesh, plus a series of attacks in the West Bank which left five Israelis wounded.)
Ehud Yaari’s interview on ABC Lateline
October 20, 2015
This post contains the transcript and a link to the video of Ehud Yaari’s interview with Emma Alberici on ABC Lateline last night.
Ehud Yaari is an international fellow at the Washington Institute and one of the most authoritative Middle East analysts.
To End the Violence in Israel, Stop the Incitement to Terror
October 16, 2015 | Glen Falkenstein
A spate of violent attacks in Israel in the past weeks have gone from bad to worse.
News alerts of stabbings, killings and the attempted murder of civilians occurring within Israel and the West Bank are turning up on my phone with an eerie, morbid regularity.
