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Israel

The brutal massacre of 21 Egyptian Copts in Libya committed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) affected not only the Egyptian attitude towards its western neighbor, but also towards its small eastern neighbor, the Gaza Strip. Although the Egyptian military reaction targeted terrorist strongholds in Libya, Hamas officials understood the message...

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Diplomacy

In an interview with David Ignatius of The Washington Post, Israeli minister of intelligence Yuval Steinitz explained the Israeli government’s reservations over the emerging nuclear deal with Iran. One element of Steinitz’ opposition is that the current deal being discussed would not give the West a chance to respond if Iran decided to sneak to...

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Human Rights

Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post reporter who has been held by Iran since his arrest in July, has been denied a lawyer by the judge handling his case, The New York Times reported Wednesday. [Jason’s] brother, Ali Rezaian, said the family had asked Masoud Shafiei, an Iranian lawyer experienced in handling foreign...

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Diplomacy

A letter circulated by “the most left-leaning” Democratic members of the House of Representatives urging a delay in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress next month garnered the signatures of only 23 of the 188 Democratic representatives. The Associated Press reported: Almost two dozen liberal Democrats on Thursday asked...

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Iran

77% of Americans polled see the “development of nuclear weapons by Iran” as a critical threat to the United States, The Algemeiner reported yesterday. A significant majority of Americans — some 77% of those polled — see the “development of nuclear weapons by Iran” as a “critical threat”; another 16% see it...

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Israel

Doctors often warn patients and their families against searching the Internet for medical information. But that’s exactly what Israeli inventor Tal Givoly and med-tech serial entrepreneur Dr. Oren Fuerst did when serious illnesses hit their families. While they knew the consequences of all the junk science and misleading information on...

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Diplomacy

The first step in fighting violent extremism is to “amplify the voices of peace and tolerance,” President Barack Obama said Thursday while appearing at the three-day Summit to Counter Violent Extremism. Obama outlined a three-part strategy for combating extremism: first discrediting the ideologies behind the extremism by appealing to forces of moderation, and then addressing the economic...

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MidEast

Established in February 1989, the Arab Maghreb Union was a a trade and political agreement signed by five Arab countries in the Maghreb region in northwest Africa—Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia—which later became essentially inoperative after squabbles over the leadership and direction of the union. Now, though, some analysts and diplomats are expressing...

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Featured

Iran has not addressed its past nuclear research according a confidential International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) document, Reuters reported today. The confidential report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), obtained by Reuters, said Tehran was continuing to withhold full cooperation in two areas of a long-running IAEA investigation that...

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Iran

Haaretz reported Wednesday that Hamas announced plans to establish military units to fight Israel from southern Lebanon, illustrating renewed cooperation and improving ties between Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran. This development also signals a Hamas attempt to open a new front against Israel. Hamas’s effort to repair ties with Iran is a...

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