Israelis head to the polls today to elect the country’s 19th Knesset, capping off three months of campaigning in which polls converged early and remained largely consistent in dividing votes between Israel’s center-right and center-left. Voters are expected, as they have been since incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced elections three...

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The Palestinian Authority representative to Britain has declared that a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is unrealistic and that the goal should be “one state” which subsumes the Jewish State. Manuel Hassassian also indicated that forces hostile to Israel would be able to leverage declining U.S. support for Jerusalem –...

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Israel is the only Middle Eastern country to rate as “free,” according to the latest annual report by Freedom House, a top U.S.-based pro-democracy NGO. Israel is an anomaly in its region, with many of its neighbors receiving negative ratings, and Syria – until recently advocated by many foreign policy analysts...

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As Israelis prepare to vote in the upcoming January 22 election, academics and pundits are increasingly skeptical of claims that the electorate has fundamentally moved to the right or left in either composition or ideology. Combining converging polling data with qualitative analysis, an article published in Tablet suggests that the...

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Hamas declared yesterday it will not dismantle its military wing as part of any reconciliation agreement between the Iran-backed terrorist organization and its rival, the Palestinian faction Fatah, which controls the West Bank. Unity talks are currently being held in Cairo and, should Hamas hold to the commitment, will complicate efforts...

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Turkish media outlets are quoting Turkey’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz to the effect that Ankara at one point blocked Israeli and Cypriot membership in an international body dedicated to promoting renewable energy. Reporting on the diplomatic gambit, which in some quarters would be greeted as an unreasonable extension of...

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With a week left before Israelis vote in the country’s January 22 election, converging polls indicate that the race remains as it has since the election was declared months ago: a center-right bloc anchored by the Likud-Beiteinu slate wielding about a dozen more seats than a fragmented center-left bloc. Prime...

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IDF officials uncovered an attack tunnel on Monday that opened into Israeli territory near the Israeli community Kibbutz Nir Oz. A similar tunnel was used in the 2006 attack in which Palestinians killed two Israeli soldiers and kidnapped a third Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit. Another attack through a tunnel could be...

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Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad has instructed his commanders to attack Israel and American targets if he is assassinated, according to rumors published in state-linked Iranian press outlets that place Assad at meetings with top commanders. Other reports, this time published in Saudi media, place Assad and his family on an offshore...

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Israel will enter the U.S. Visa Waiver Program if Congress passes a bipartisan bill to be presented this week, co-sponsored by Reps. Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Ted Poe (R-TX). The program currently allows travelers from 37 countries to enter the U.S. as visitors for up to 90 days without first...

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