Recent Posts

Israel’s Self-Destruction

One bright day in April 1956, Moshe Dayan, the one-eyed chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), drove south to Nahal Oz, a recently established kibbutz near the border of the Gaza Strip. Dayan came to attend the funeral of 21-year-old Roi Rotberg, who had been murdered the …

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Has the Gaza War Helped Hezbollah?

While Iran has been able to mobilize its region-wide networks and reaffirm its regional importance, the story is more complicated in Lebanon. While few doubt that Iran and Hezbollah knew of Hamas’s intention to attack Israeli towns around Gaza, it remains unclear whether they knew of the timing, or even …

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Close Down UNRWA

Western nations must not continue to contribute to a UN agency that is effectively controlled by a terrorist organization. Last week, Australian foreign minister Penny Wong indicated that Canberra may soon resume government funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), …

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Lebanon Rejects Proposal to Curb Hezbollah

Latest Developments Lebanon rejected a proposal on February 6 for Hezbollah’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon, as mandated by UN Security Council Resolution 1701. The United States and four European countries are reportedly calling for Hezbollah to retreat several kilometers north as part of a diplomatic effort to defuse tensions at …

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Democracy Policy Under Biden: Confronting a Changed World

Summary In response to an international context U.S. President Joe Biden has described as an overarching struggle between democracy and autocracy, his administration has set out to support democracy globally as a major foreign policy priority. This effort has entailed grappling with three daunting challenges: a global democratic recession involving …

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