News outlets conveyed reports – beginning Saturday and extending through Monday – of increased tensions between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction and the Hamas terror organization, with Abbas slamming Hamas for, per Agence France Presse, ‘effectively running a parallel administration in Gaza’: “We will not accept the situation with Hamas...

Al Monitor’s insidery Congress Pulse on Tuesday conveyed details from the day’s House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on “Hamas’ benefactors” noting that lawmakers emerged from the panel echoing witnesses who blasted Qatar and Turkey for supporting the Palestinian terror group: Congress delivered its staunchest warning to date on Sept. 9 that Turkey...

On Tuesday, Iran announced that it was in talks with Russia “about economic cooperation in energy, which could undercut the sanctions”. South Africa, which had been observing the sanctions regime, also said it was prepared to resume importing Iranian oil in three months time. The economic cooperation being discussed is...

A headless corpse was discovered Wednesday by residents of the northern Sinai, bearing a note accusing the victim of spying for Israel. Reuters reports: Residents from a village south of the town of Sheikh Zuweid in northern Sinai told Reuters by phone that the decapitated body bore a note signed by...

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon traveled to Azerbaijan today for a two day visit to Iran’s northern neighbor. The Jerusalem Post reports: Ya’alon met with the Azeri President Ilham Heydar oglu Aliyev, as well as with the country’s Defense Minister, Zakir Hasanov, and Foreign Minister, Elmar Mammadyarov, as well as senior officials...

This week, The Tower Magazine launched its September issue, featuring the following articles: Where the Shadiest Players Find a Home, by Jonathan Schanzer, Vice President of Research for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, goes in-depth on Turkey, whose government funds Hamas, helps Iran evade sanctions, and harbors a financier tied to the 9/11...

Last week, the Switzerland-based World Economic Forum (WEF) released its Global Competitiveness Report. Israel ranked 27th out of 144 nations overall, and ranked third for innovation: The report describes Israel’s strengths (.pdf): The country’s main strengths remain its world-class capacity for innovation (3rd), which rests on innovative businesses that benefit from...

Doctors at Israel’s northern hospitals are used to middle-of-the-night calls to come and treat wounded Syrians brought across the border for Israeli medical aid. However, the 12-year-old Syrian boy who arrived in serious condition over the weekend to the IDF border post was the first to make the trek by donkey from...

On Sunday, Israel’s The Marker reported that flights originating at Ben-Gurion Airport will now be able to take Israeli Muslims to Mecca for the Hajj. The flights will begin later this month. The Algemeiner reports: In a possible sign of improved relations between Israel and the Saudi Kingdom, some 766 Israeli Muslim...

On Sunday, Benjamin Weinthal documented the expansion of business ties between Iran, Germany and the Czech Republic, which have been undermining the leverage that sanctions initially provided in the P5+1 nuclear negotiations with the Islamic republic. Weinthal reports that the Czech Republic is scheduled to “send 20 companies to Tehran on...