Stay Informed

Sign up and be the first to stay abreast of developments in Israel and the Middle East

Diplomacy

Despite statements to the contrary by Secretary of State John Kerry, the United States could access the secret agreements between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) if it wanted to, a former IAEA executive told Armin Rosen of Business Insider today. When pressed by legislators in congressional hearings, Kerry has...

Continue Reading >>

Diplomacy

Western corporations rushing to take advantage of the removal of economic sanctions on Iran in the wake of the nuclear deal may find themselves implicated in the regime’s repression, Benjamin Weinthal, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, warned Wednesday in an article written for Forbes. Leading...

Continue Reading >>

Human Rights

Iraqi Shiite militias, known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a number of which are backed by Iran, are recruiting and training teens as young as 15 to fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Associated Press (AP) reported Tuesday. Hundreds of students have gone through training at...

Continue Reading >>

Iran

Rep. Grace Meng (D – N.Y.) announced her opposition to the nuclear deal with Iran, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in a press release today. “I strongly believe the world could and should have a better deal than that set forth in the Joint Comprehensive Plan...

Continue Reading >>

Diplomacy

The verification mechanisms described in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 nations is known, are inadequate to detect an Iranian attempt to cheat and achieve nuclear breakout, according to a report (.pdf) published yesterday by the Institute for Science and...

Continue Reading >>

Israel

Israel connected the Ketura Solar field to its national power grid today, the financial website Globes reported. The field is located in Kibbutz Ketura in Israel’s Aravah valley. The “Ketura Solar” field was connected on Wednesday to the national electric grid. It is one of the largest solar parks in...

Continue Reading >>

Israel

The ultimate goal of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and its leaders is to delegitimize the state of Israel, legislators, legal experts and business leaders agreed in a congressional hearing Tuesday. The hearing was held by the Subcommittee on National Security of the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform....

Continue Reading >>

Diplomacy

A poll conducted by Olive Tree Strategies and released today by The Israel Project (TIP) reveals growing opposition to the recently concluded nuclear deal with Iran, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The results show that the percentage of respondents who disapprove of the JCPOA has risen from 30%...

Continue Reading >>

Iran

A bomb attack Tuesday in the northeastern city of Sitra, Bahrain killed two police officers and wounded six others. The explosives used were similar to explosives, allegedly originating from Iran, that were captured over the weekend by Bahraini authorities, raising suspicions that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) may have been involved. This attack came just two days...

Continue Reading >>

MidEast

The recent revelation that international inspectors failed to rid Syria of its chemical weapons arsenal, due to interference from the regime and incomplete knowledge of the full extent of the country’s stockpiles, has raised concerns about how effective the recently concluded nuclear deal with Iran can be. Ely Karmon, a senior research scholar...

Continue Reading >>