Iran’s first direct successful attack on Israel for its many brutal attacks on Syria, Lebanon, Iran and the annihilation of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank has dramatically changed the rules for all state and non-state actors in the Middle East. On 13 April, for the first time in nearly 190 days, Palestinians in Gaza were able to sleep without fear of Israel’s constant aerial presence in the skies over the Strip, which has been mercilessly carpet-bombed since 7 October…

On 18 April, the US vetoed a draft resolution prepared by Algeria proposing to grant full UN membership to the state of Palestine, effectively blocking a Security Council decision to recognise Palestine as a state. Twelve of the fifteen Council members – Slovenia, Sierra Leone, South Korea, Mozambique, Malta, Japan, Guyana, Ecuador, Algeria, as well as Russia, China and France – voted in favour of the resolution, while the UK and Switzerland abstained (Palestine has had observer status at the UN since 2012). The US representative, speaking at the meeting, argued that Palestine’s full membership in the UN “is a decision to be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians”.

In early April 2024, Cairo hosted another round of ceasefire negotiations in the Gaza Strip. However, observers note a lack of meaningful progress between the parties. The point is that the determined Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is unwilling to make concessions on the release of Palestinian hostages before the ceasefire, seeing such a scenario as a defeat for Tel Aviv at the hands of Hamas. The Palestinians, on the other hand, have a diametrically opposed view. Despite the hopes of the mediators, represented by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, that there would be space between the positions of the opposing sides, no consensus has been reached…

International outrage continues to grow after the United States unilaterally blocked a widely supported UN Security Council resolution that would have admitted the state of Palestine as a full member of the United Nations. The US was the only country to veto the resolution, while even its staunch allies Britain and Switzerland abstained and 12 of the 15 Security Council members voted in favour…

Today, everyone is waiting for high-profile events in the Middle East related to the unprecedented confrontation between Israel and Iran. The primary source of the conflict, Gaza, and its offshoots, the Houthis in the Red Sea and the collapse of global shipping, have been pushed into the background. On closer inspection, Iran and Israel have more in common than they do differences. Both are regional outsiders, both are sectarian and ethnic. Both Tel Aviv and Tehran have built their national strategies on the contradictions of their neighbours and on hidden reserves…

For the past 14 months, large numbers of Israeli demonstrators have been gathering to demand the removal of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Initially, the protests were aimed at defending the independence of Israel’s judiciary, but after the Hamas attack on 7 October, they began to demand that Netanyahu be held accountable for everything that has happened since that sad day for Israelis. The general consensus in the country is that Netanyahu will be unceremoniously sent into retirement at some point in the coming weeks or months…

There are few rivalries in our world as powerful and dangerous as that between Israel and Iran. The recent escalation of tensions between these two regional powers – as evidenced by Israel’s attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus and Iran’s retaliatory drone and rocket attacks on Israel – has raised serious global concerns. Many around the world noted Iran’s statement that its military action was in response to Israeli aggression against its diplomatic facilities and that “the matter can be considered settled”. It is believed that if the flames of conflict in Gaza are allowed to continue to rage, the negative effects will spread and…

The unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe faced by the civilian Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip may be about to shape new political realities, but it is unlikely to keep Rafah, on the border with Egypt, safe from an Israeli offensive. There will be a new massacre and new victims, primarily the elderly, women and children. And the rest of the world, because of the West’s policies, will stand idly by, unable to take decisive action to stop these crimes.

Last week, Washington’s decision to abstain from voting allowed the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to pass the resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. This would be remembered as one of those rare occasions where the US did not use its veto power to protect Israel. More importantly, the Israeli prime minister’s office termed the US decision to not veto the resolution as a “clear retreat” from Washington’s previous uncritical commitment to protecting Israel…

On its website the Israeli think tank The Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security has published an article by Udi Levy entitled “Is the United States really against HAMAS?”, which notes that “the United States’ inability to organize an effective campaign to counter Hamas funding, despite its declared intentions, is a sign of Washington’s loss of financial leverage.” Sanctions, once successfully applied against territorial organizations and individual states are no longer working…

On 18 March, US Senator Bernie Sanders (who has been in the Senate since 2007) published an article in Foreign Affairs on the need for a radical change in American foreign policy, which, according to him, “requires a rejection of greed, militarism and hypocrisy”. Harshly criticising American adventures in Korea, Vietnam, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc., the senator points out that in the last few decades alone the US has been involved in military operations in Afghanistan, Cameroon…

The recently completed visit by senior Israeli politician Benny Gantz to Washington and London, and especially its positive outcome, not only attracted world media attention, but may also provide an indication about who may be Israel’s next Prime Minister. This raises the question of just who Benny Gantz is, and why he was honored with an invitation to the two capitals, given that current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has never paid an official visit to Washington, at least…