Iran may be about to lose its ally Hamas, which Israel seeks to defeat. But is it also about to gain a new partner, Sudan, on the western side of the Red Sea?  Here we go again in Sudan. For decades the country experienced civil war and famine, triggered by religious conflicts and struggles for power […]

Israel’s version of the Pentagon is a twin-towered office complex in HaKirya, the Compound, bordering what used to be the eastern outskirts of Tel Aviv, until 1948 when the city started expanding and flourishing. On the 14th floor of the complex is a corridor connecting the office suites of the two highest ranking officials. These […]

The March 22 terrorist attack in Moscow left 133 dead, more than 130 injured, and many urgent questions about the return of ISIS, a Syria-based terror group long thought to be vanquished.  Days before the bloodshed, the US secretly warned the Kremlin about a potential ISIS attack, giving actionable intelligence under its longstanding “duty to warn” […]

Rarely in the American special relationship with Israel has there been such a dramatic display of discord between leaders. What began as a remarkable show of American support and solidarity with Israel, in the wake of Hamas’s assault in October, came by February and March to be increasingly marred by acrimony. The White House statement […]

Four months into the war in Gaza and the cafés in Tel Aviv are full. It’s nearly impossible to find a spot in trendy restaurants on weekends. Yet no one should be mistaken. Israel is not back to normal.  A radio or television plays in the background of nearly every café and shop, and when […]

Some two billion people, or around one half of the world’s population, will have the opportunity to vote in 2024. No matter the outcome of these elections, 2024 will be a turning point – a time of choosing between democracy and darker outcomes. These elections are taking place against a backdrop of weakening independent institutions in a […]

Self-deterrence is a defense concept that a state may be restrained from using its military power not by the fear of a counter strike but rather owing to reputational concerns arising from moral, legal or other considerations. This concept may partly explain US reluctance to escalate the current level of military conflict with Iran, though […]

As 2024 began, the Israeli war effort in the Gaza Strip changed in nature (see Israel Shifts Tactics in Gaza), with the focus shifting to the battles in the central and southern areas and to special forces operations against Hamas’ immense tunnel system. But the hostage situation remained unresolved, with 136 still held according to […]

In the days and weeks after the October 7 terrorist attack and Israeli military response, some Latin American nations have distanced themselves politically from Israel. While views of the conflict are evolving, the Latin American public’s reliance on social media for news reports, amid relentlessly negative images of suffering in Gaza, has contributed to widespread […]

Interview with Elyakim Rubinstein – Former Israeli Peace Negotiator and Supreme Court Justice. Interviewer: Ksenia Svetlova. Read the full transcript below.  Ksenia Svetlova: Do you believe that Israel can achieve security in the West Bank and also in the south near Gaza, without the fundamental question of solving the Palestinian issue. You negotiated Camp David […]

Read the full transcript below.  Ksenia Svetlova: Some people see a decline in American power. Are we going through a more chaotic period where there are no rules anymore? Challenges to the American-led World Order Tunku Varadarajan: I think that it’s not fair to say you don’t have rules anymore. What is fair to say is that you […]

JST columnist Ksenia Svetlova interviews Israeli writer and historian Fania Oz-Salzberger about the position of the center-left in Israel today. Oz-Salzberger co-authored the book, Jews and Words, with her late father, the novelist Amos Oz.  Read the full transcript below. Note: This transcript is lightly edited. Ksenia Svetlova: I follow you on Twitter and read your […]