Residents of Egypt’s border with Gaza were given 48 hours to evacuate their homes on Tuesday. In response to a terror attack that occurred last Friday, Egypt plans to dismantle homes and build a buffer zone in the area to prevent infiltrations from the Hamas-ruled territory. The  Associated Press (AP) reports:...

The Israeli tech website Geektime reported yesterday that despite Hamas’ rocket war against Israel this past summer, funding for Israeli startups remains strong. Geektime interviewed Koby Simana, CEO of IVC Research Center, to provide some perspective on the meaning of the numbers. “We have been asked repeatedly about the effect of...

In ISIS: Can the West Win Without a Ground Game?, published in the October 2014 issue of The Tower Magazine, Jonathan Spyer outlines the dilemmas facing policy makers who wish to, in the words of President Barack Obama, “degrade and ultimately destroy” the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)....

Al Arabiya on Monday (link in Arabic) cataloged  a series of concessions that the Obama administration is rumored to have made to Iran as negotiations approach the upcoming November 24 deadline, a week after The New York Times reported on plans by President Barack Obama to “do everything in his power to...

An analysis written for Lebanon’s NOW media outlet yesterday argues that Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria has “strained” the terrorist group’s resources and is potentially alienating it from its power base, the Shiite population of Lebanon. The author of the analysis, Hussain Abdul-Hussain, observed that in order to justify its involvement outside...

Dr. Emily Landau, a nuclear proliferation expert at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, shared her concerns last Thursday about recent developments in the P5+1 nuclear negotiations with Iran. She made her remarks in a conference call organized by The Israel Project, which publishes The Tower. (A complete recording of the...

The Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) announced 94 new grants, totaling $3,453,332, for the 2014/2015 funding year at The Barbara S. Goodman Annual Scientific Awards in New York recently. Among the areas of cancer research directly sponsored by ICRF in 2014/2015 are studies in bone, brain, breast, colorectal, gastrointestinal, liver, lung,...

Coordinated attacks on Egyptian army positions in the northern Sinai Peninsula killed at least 33 security personnel on Friday, prompting the country’s National Defense Council to declare a three month state of emergency in the area and triggering a broad counter-terrorism sweep that looks likely to extend into the medium-term....

This past week, Turkish-Egyptian tensions took on a new, economic dimension. Egypt decided (Arabic link) to prevent the passage of Turkish trucks and ships through its territory to the Persian Gulf states, signaling an increase of friction between the two rival countries. The Egyptian government signed an agreement with Turkey in March...

Ahmed Shaheed, the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Right in the Islamic Republic of Iran, compiled a report on the status of minorities in Iran to be presented to political leaders Tuesday. Benjamin Weinthal reports that despite Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s campaign promise to extend citizenship...