Deepening sectarian tensions throughout the Middle East – there are now regular Sunni-Shiite hostilities from Lebanon on the Mediterranean coast through Syria and into Iraq – are behind a wary but measurable realignment that has seen Sunni actors willing to engage Israel to bolster their positions or security. Last week...

Turkey is reportedly planning to purchase air defense systems from China, an announcement that has been met with consternation, and along with troubling authoritarian conduct at home, is raising questions about Turkey’s true intentions, and increasingly about its suitability as a NATO ally: “That would certainly leave many of us...

Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday called on President Barack Obama to increase pressure on Iran, with all but one member of the committee signing on to a bipartisan letter emphasizing that the election of Hassan Rouhani to be Iran’s next president will do nothing to moderate Iran’s...

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay on Monday blamed the “Jewish diaspora,” as well as international media outlets, for the protests that began in Istanbul in late May and spread throughout the country. “There are some circles that are jealous of Turkey’s growth. They are all uniting, on one side the...

Tension has developed between Secretary of State John Kerry and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, with reports emerging that Kerry’s efforts to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are being stifled by preconditions that Abbas insists must be fulfilled before he will return to the negotiating table. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry...

In a dramatic development, the Obama administration now appears to be urging Egypt’s President Mohammed Morsi to call for early elections. Speaking to CNN’s Elise Labott, a senior administration official explains, “We are saying to him, ‘Figure out a way to go for new elections…That may be the only way that...

Israel’s political and military echelons are watching the situation unfolding in Egypt closely, and are analyzing the multiple scenario presented by the unrest. A senior Israel security source who spoke to The Tower on condition of anonymity given the diplomatic and military sensitivity of the issue evaluated the chance of...

A few weeks ago, in a meeting with Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced that the U.S. would be providing its Israeli allies with an “unprecedented” military package to cope with instability in the region and with the deepening threat posed by Iranian conventional and...

In addition to its successful mobilization of millions of Egyptians, the so-called Tamarod anti-government movement in Egypt has drawn attention for explicitly denouncing the role that the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood is seeking to play in the country’s political life. On Monday Tamarod protesters threatened “complete civil disobedience” if the Muslim...

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas has rejected a package of Israeli goodwill gestures designed to coax the Palestinian leader back to peace talks, where further Israeli concessions would be discussed. A Palestinian official told Xinhua that the Israeli confidence-building measures – which included the release of security prisoners and programs designed...