Middle Orient

The Israeli negotiating team will depart for Egypt today for ceasefire talks and discussions on a prisoner exchange agreement with Hamas. “The team will go to Cairo to listen and ask questions because the gap is significant,” said an unnamed Israeli official to Israel’s Channel 12. The Palestinian Hamas movement …

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed deep concern on Tuesday over the escalation of Israeli military activities in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. “I am disturbed by the Israeli military activity in Rafah,” Guterres said at a press conference. Emphasizing the immense importance of reopening the Rafah and Kerem …

A Lebanese media outlet published on May 1 the purported text of the Egyptian-proposed ceasefire agreement that Hamas is considering.[i] The reported proposal addresses all of Hamas’ maximalist demands except for a permanent ceasefire.[ii] Hamas would not likely adhere to a permanent ceasefire, however, given that Hamas has violated previous …

Campus protests in solidarity with Palestine have been met with brute police force and condemnation of the participants. Their mobilization is a threat to the political system, which cannot operate as the ruling class would like if large numbers of people engage in active dissent. “As the ICJ is saying, …

On April 13, Iran launched over 300 missiles and drones at Israel, prompting Jordan to assist in defense. Initial reports suggested broader Arab involvement, indicating a potential shift in regional dynamics. However, these claims were later refuted. Despite this, Israeli leaders and some in Washington saw it as a signal …

Even among hardcore ideologues of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), caution — sometimes referred to as “strategic patience” — had been the watchword when confronting Israel. That ended on April 13, 2024, when Iran launched a missile and drone onslaught against Israel directly from its territory. It was a …

Amid the recent escalation between Iran and Israel, the Iranian president warned that ifIsrael attacked Iran again, “nothing will remain of the Zionist regime.” The chief of staff of theIranian army threatened that Iran would respond to any further aggression with greater forcethan in the past. E_109_24Download

Latest Developments Turkey suspended trade with Israel on May 2, according to two unnamed Turkish officials quoted by Bloomberg. In response, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz wrote on X that Ankara is “breaking agreements by blocking ports for Israel imports and exports” and that the Israeli government will work “to …

[T]he Iran-backed Hamas terror group is again trying to dupe gullible Westerners, including the Biden administration and the European Union, into believing that it has accepted the “two-state solution.” The Hamas official would not have dared to utter similar nonsense to an Arab media outlet. He knows that here his …

Several Iranian military leaders boasted on May 1 that they could strike Israel with a drone and missile attack much larger than what they launched on April 13 and thus inflict greater damage on Israel.[i] IRGC Commander Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami suggested that Iran could have launched two or three …