Two months ago Israeli officials reported that a record-breaking number of tourists were visiting the country. The exact figures on the boost that those tourists were providing to the Israeli economy, however, hadn’t yet been worked out. Israel’s Tourism Ministry recently took its victory lap: “In recent years, revenue from...

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Hezbollah has taken more than one diplomatic hit for the critical support that it has provided to the Bashar al-Assad regime, which has allowed Syrian forces to erode two years of rebel gains. Militarily, however, the Syrian war has disciplined the group and hardened its fighters. The result – for...

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Israel’s Foreign Ministry held a virtual meeting Tuesday with residents of Persian Gulf states, engaging them in a Twitter chat on the “official channel of the virtual Israeli embassy to GCC countries.” Rafi Barak, the normally low-profile ministry director-general, held court, assisted by staffers translating queries and responses into Arabic....

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The Israeli Defense Forces and U.S. European Command last week concluded two weeks of military exercises as part of regularly scheduled training exercises between the allies. Juniper Stallion 13 and Noble Melinda 13 were concurrent air force and navy exercises. The IDF ran down the purpose of the exercises: Juniper Stallion 13...

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FC Barcelona – one of the world’s greatest soccer teams, led by Argentinean soccer divinity Lionel Messi – traveled this week through Israel and through Palestinian controlled territories in the West Bank. When they played in Israel’s Jaffa, Israeli officials invited 400 to 500 Palestinians to watch the game. When...

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The official Twitter feed of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei today lashed out amid renewed peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian officials, emphasizing instead that Israel must be destroyed to make way for a Palestinian state. Any operational plan 4 Palestinian cause should be based on “All #Palestine for...

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Iranian state media reported this week on statements made by Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi in which the powerful Iranian official – Naqdi is the commander of the Basij paramilitary force – explained the sources of regional instability and how to solve them. A lot, it turns out, hangs on the Jewish...

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Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip have evaluated renewed negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), and are declaring themselves displeased: Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Shallah said the PA had relinquished many of its initial preconditions to the negotiations in order to revive the way of the Oslo Accords,...

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Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas has been criticized in the past for declaring that a future Palestinian state would be cleansed of all Israelis. According to reports, including from Reuters, those criticisms have not taken hold: “In a final resolution, we would not see the presence of a single...

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Members of Israel’s governing coalition sought this weekend and into Monday to dampen criticism of a Cabinet decision to release 104 jailed Palestinian terrorists – almost all convicted of murdering Israeli civilians – as a gesture toward Palestinian diplomats, who have been demanding the concession as a condition for returning...

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