So entrenched is the dominance of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israeli politics that he can afford to use the parliamentary process for political theater — that’s the lesson of Israel’s on-again, off-again election. On …
Netanyahu
Netanyahu Calls for Elections, But Will It Change How Israel Is Governed?
Update: The late-night, last-minute deal to avert early elections by bringing the centrist Kadima party into the ruling coalition — announced in the early morning hours of Tuesday in Israel — comes with an agreement to pass …
Must-Reads from Around the World, May 1, 2012
Conduct Report – British MPs tasked with investigating allegations of phone hacking at Rupert Murdoch’s now-defunct tabloid, News of the World, have released a long-awaited final report on the matter. The Daily Telegraph is …
Why Israeli Challenges to Netanyahu on Iran May Help Obama’s Nuclear Diplomacy
The steady torrent of criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Iran rhetoric by some of the most senior figures in Israel’s security establishment may be causing consternation within the Prime Minister’s office, but it’s not necessarily …
For Israel, the Problem with Iran Diplomacy Is the Prospect of Nuclear Compromise
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amplified his skepticism of President Obama’s Iran strategy on Wednesday, when he used a Holocaust remembrance speech to warn that Iran was building nuclear weapons in order to destroy …
Iran Nuclear Talks: Hitting the ‘Snooze’ Button on the Alarm Clock of Confrontation
Staying within the “clock is ticking” metaphor favored by the Obama Administration when discussing diplomacy with Iran, Saturday’s talks in Istanbul could be said to have hit the snooze button. The doomsday alarm could yet sound, …
Iran Talks: Amid Ticking Clocks and Closing Windows, What Would Success Look Like?
The clock is ticking and the window is closing for a diplomatic solution to the Iran nuclear standoff, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Saturday, ahead of talks scheduled for April 13 in Istanbul. “We are determined to …
A New Season of Palestinian Protest Challenges Both Israel and Abbas
The Arab League is talking about Syria; Israel and the U.S. are talking about Iran. Nobody in the corridors of power, these days, is talking about the Palestinians. In part, that reflects the shifting geopolitical sands and the …
Must-Reads from Around the World: March 28, 2012
Mounting Pressure – Hot on the heels of allegations Monday by the BBC’s Panorama program that a News Corp. subsidiary company used a computer hacker to sabotage its biggest U.K. rival, the Australian Financial Review has now …
Is Netanyahu Dreaming in Cuban on Iran?
President Barack Obama, speaking Saturday in Turkey on the Iran nuclear standoff, reiterated his belief that “there is a window of time to solve this diplomatically, but that window is closing.” That may be a rhetorical device …
Netanyahu Makes the Case for Going It Alone Against Iran
By his own account, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went to Washington this month with two goals.
Diplomacy With Iran: Hey, What’s the Hurry?
Such is the chasm between Washington and Tehran that last week’s comments by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei on President Barack Obama’s recent speech verged on geopolitical flirting: “We heard two days ago that the …
Netanyahu Signals Determination on Iran, but War Will Have to Wait
Had he been speaking Hebrew in a dramatic TV broadcast back home, parts of Benjamin Netanyahu’s fire-and-brimstone speech on Monday night might have been mistaken for the words of an Israeli Prime Minister about to launch a …