The Senate late Thursday unanimously passed bipartisan legislation establishing Israel as a “major strategic partner” of the United States, putting into motion expanded cooperation across areas as diverse as security, energy, and trade. The bill had been authored by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo) and had gained 81...

The sudden release of 49 Turkish diplomats held by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) since June has raised suggestions that Ankara may be secretly collaborating with ISIS to oppose Syria’s Kurdish population. Writing in the British Independent on September 21, veteran columnist Patrick Cockburn said: Mystery surrounds the...

On Friday, The Washington Post reported that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani offered no new details about Iranian-American Post reporter Jason Rezaian and his wife, Yeganeh Salehi, in an interview last week with Ann Curry of NBC. Rouhani declined to offer details on the condition of Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, who...

The Irish soldiers stationed on the Golan Heights, meant to be the main security element of the United Nations force there, had to leave a key weapon behind in Ireland, leaving it much harder for them to defend their international colleagues from the threat of al-Qaeda. The story was reported...

In an analysis published in Tablet, Lee Smith comments on a recent New York Times report concerning the influence of foreign money on think tanks to evaluate how Qatar’s support of the Brookings Institution might have affected Martin Indyk, the head of its Foreign Policy Program. In between stints at Brookings, Indyk was appointed by Secretary of...

Former Canadian Minister of Justice and long time human rights advocate Irwin Cotler outlined on Thursday the numerous ways that the government of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani “has presided over a regime that continues to engage in massive repression.” Cotler evaluates six categories of human rights violations that have persisted or...

Archaeologists have long known about the massive 150 meter-long landmark near the Israeli city of Safed (Tsfat). But it wasn’t until recent work carried out by Ido Wachtel, a doctoral student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, that the structure was identified as a 5,000-year-old crescent-shaped stone monument. Archaeologists were mystified by...

Yesterday, the IDF’s official blog presented an analysis by a senior IDF officer concerning the security challenges facing Israel on its northern border with Lebanon. According to the report, Hezbollah is continuing to affirm its presence in the area, and “for the first time in years, Hezbollah flags can be seen near the...

Western powers on Thursday criticized Iran for its ongoing refusal to provide the UN’s nuclear watchdog (IAEA) with the cooperation that the agency requires to fully investigate the so-called “possible military dimensions” (PMDs) of Tehran’s atomic program, statements that the BBC conveyed alongside an assessment from officials that ‘a breakthrough in...

Antonio Forzieri, an executive at the computer security firm Symantec, was impressed with what he saw of Israeli hacking teams, The Times of Israel reported today. “I’ve seen hackers at work all over Europe and the US, and Israeli hackers are younger, faster, and smarter than those in almost any...