Former Lebanese President Amine Gemayel has issued a stark warning about the fate of Christians in the Middle East, endangered by what he called “the rise of religious extremists.” Speaking last week at an event sponsored by Christian Solidarity International (CSI), Gemayel, who is himself Maronite Catholic, called on the international community...

Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe “Bogie” Ya’alon stunned both domestic and international observers yesterday when he signaled that he now leans in favor of a unilateral Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, according to multiple reports. This comes in the wake of months of failed Western efforts, through the P5+1 states, to...

President Barack Obama met yesterday with Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas to advance a U.S.-backed framework outlining a comprehensive peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, after weeks in which – per the Washington Post’s Jackson Diehl – Abbas “publicly campaign[ed] against the U.S. and Israeli position even before arriving in...

Analysts and journalists worked yesterday to unpack a weekend interview between Reuters and Vann Van Diepen – the U.S.’s Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Non-Proliferation – in which Van Diepen bluntly declared that there has been no change in Iran’s efforts to illicitly procure components for its nuclear...

The U.N.’s Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran yesterday officially presented his latest report to the U.N. Human Rights Council. Stating that he had met with representatives from the Iranian Judiciary and other government organizations in Geneva, Shaheed said, “the report before the Council demonstrates that...

Eighty-three senators—split almost evenly between Democrats and Republicans—sent a joint letter to President Obama today calling for increased pressure on Iran and the dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear program. Among other things, the letter called for the “rapid and dramatic” expansion of sanctions if talks with Iran fail: Most importantly, Iran must...

If talks break down between Israel and the Palestinians, who will be to blame? In a scathing op-ed today, the Washington Post’s deputy editorial-page editor Jackson Diehl suggests that while Abbas will drive the failure, at least part of the problem may be in the tactics employed by President Obama....

The Associated Press assessed last week that Hamas has “been hit by the worst economic crisis since seizing the [Gaza Strip] seven years ago,” after a series of bad geopolitical gambles – most prominently its alignment with the now-decapitated Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, but also various miscalculations involving Iran and its allies – left the...

The Hamas-supporting prime minister of Turkey and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) continue to find themselves on the uncomfortable end of a growing anti-government backlash. Street protests have swelled in recent weeks as the Islamist-Authoritarian regime has brutally jailed critics and political rivals, and continued to deploy force against...

With unusual candor and stark language, a top State Department official is accusing Iran of ongoing illicit nuclear-related activity in violation of international obligations.  The shift in tone suggests an early beginning to establishing blame for a failure of international talks designed to remove the nuclear threat posed by Iran....