Tag Archives: Iran

The election is upon us now – only two days away – and the situation is not substantially different from what it was when I last wrote.  Neither camp has a clear majority in the polls. Likud and Blue & White are reasonably neck-in-neck.  Maddeningly, each poll is somewhat different, …

For some time now, Israel has been at the edge of war. Or, to put it another way, Israel has been and continues to be engaged in an ongoing, low level, multi-faceted shadow war that has potential to erupt into something major.   The post that follows is filled with …

It is not because it is unimportant that I have not written about President Trump’s challenge to Iranian threats.  It is of critical importance. I have simply been focused in a variety of other directions. On Friday, however, Ruthie Blum wrote an excellent column, “Bringing Iran to its knees,” in the …

“But why does he have to make provocations with these declarations of his?!” I was shocked to hear this sentence come out of the mouths of my Jewish American relatives. Yes, they were referring to Trump (who they hate) and to the Jerusalem Declaration. I love my relatives but they …

In recent years, Israel has waged a covert war against a large-scale Hamas effort to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip, a Hebrew-language media report has said. The Jan. 6 report, citing unspecified international media sources, was published in Walla News, one of the largest online Israeli news agencies. Since …

 Don’t. Just don’t. Sometimes kindly meant words are the worst. On May 8th Trump pulled out of the disastrous Iran Deal. Almost immediately afterward Israeli citizens were warned that there would likely be an attack from Iranians based in Syria and communities in the Golan were instructed to make sure …

The head spins: things are happening so quickly. But it’s a good spin. A great spin. ~~~~~~~~~~ Let me back-track just a bit. Two days ago, when last I wrote, intelligence indicated the likelihood that there would soon be an attack by Iran launched from Syria; it was expected that …

My, how the world has changed. I woke up and looked at the news. It’s an Israeli thing, especially because of nights like last night. Amazing things can happen in the night. This was the headline: https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5256257,00.html TWENTY rockets were fired at Israel. Big ones that go far and cause …

I have selected the term “obscenities” mindfully: in the sense of demonstrating a “crass disregard of moral or ethical principles.” It is important to deal with them, so that we can move on to a better place. We begin with what is going on at the Gaza fence. It seems …

The attempt to justify the 2015 deal with Iran, as being the only viable alternative to allowing it to develop nuclear weapons, is both infuriating and disingenuous. The prime minister of Israel is deeply opposed to it, I think he’s made that very clear. I have repeatedly asked, what is …

I knew that our Mossad was the very best, but this is above and beyond.  Many of you are already aware of their incredible feat; nonetheless, I lead off with the news of Israel’s intelligence coup regarding Iran. Last night, Prime Minister Netanyahu delivered a bombshell address, in English, regarding …

It was Saturday morning.  I woke up to the sound of the Red Alert siren app ringing, announcing in-coming missiles somewhere in Israel. Where?  I knew it wasn’t in Haifa (yet) because the municipal siren wasn’t screaming outside but elsewhere in Israel, people were running to their bomb shelters. In …

On Saturday morning (Saturday evening in Australia), news began to filter through about an incident in Israel’s north – an Iranian drone flying into Israeli sovereign territory, a downed F-16 jet.  It was not clear straight away, but the IDF did post a timeline of the events and how the drama all unfolded: …

  Today I begin by following through on the events of this past Saturday, with regard to our contending with Iran and Syria.  There is so very much being said, so many different opinions as to the implications of what has happened. If there is any clarity I can bring …

The ongoing turmoil in Iran highlights both the duplicity to which the Obama administration resorted & the missed opportunity for a better deal. The alternative is a region wide explosion with totally unpredictable consequences….Just think how that would work out in the end… I think that is a policy of …

Only by resisting territorial concessions on the Golan, Israel prevented deployment of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards on the fringes of the Galilee; only by resisting territorial concessions in the “West Bank” can Israel prevent them from deploying on the fringes of Greater Tel Aviv.  Israel has a strategic interest in …

The political/diplomatic situation is so fluid, so unstable, that sometimes I prepare to report on one state of affairs, only to discover that a day later the situation has already shifted – or was not as it had been reported. Before I turn to some of these matters, however, I …

As the experience of 2003 shows, Iran will only abandon its nuclear program if confronted by what it perceives to be a tangible military threat  In a large country with multiple facilities and ample experience in nuclear concealment, violations will be inherently difficult to detect. Devising theoretical models of inspection …

On the second day of Rosh Hashana, the Haftora (prophetic reading following the Torah reading) is from Jeremiah 31. So said Hashem…’I have loved you with an eternal love, therefore have I extended kindness to you. I shall yet rebuild you and you will be rebuilt…You will yet plant vineyards …

In my last posting I shared several ways in which Israel’s shifting relationships with other nations are yielding positive results. We return to that theme here, to look at other ways in which Israel has developed more self-confident, self-assertive policies. Previously, my focus was on Africa, but Asia also deserves …