Although the Obama Administration has proclaimed its intention to “pivot” toward Asia, Secretary of State John Kerry has been forced to pivot back to the Middle East in advance of his forthcoming trip to Asia. Kerry was originally slated to travel to South Korea, Japan, and China following the April …
This week, the parliament of Bahrain voted unanimously to declare Hezbollah a terrorist organization. “It is time we join the world in outlawing this group, which has terrorized the region enough and has been instrumental in spreading evil among us,” said lawmaker Shaikh Jassim Al Saeedi, a sponsor of the …
A Cypriot court on Thursday sentenced a member of the terrorist organization Hezbollah, Hossam Taleb Yaacoub, to four years in jail for planning to attack Israeli citizens and targets in Cyprus. Yaacoub’s conviction a week earlier marked the first time a Hezbollah member had been found guilty in a European …
In New York, the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) conference is entering its final phase, and the ways in which the negotiations might fail are becoming clearer. A large number of nations—mainly the Middle East but also Bangladesh, Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, and others—are not going to get much of …
President Obama wowed his youthful audience in Israel on Thursday. Having arrived on Wednesday with a mere 10 percent approval rating, Obama clearly hoped to win Israeli hearts and minds with his almost hour-long speech. He went straight to the Israeli people with his pitch, eschewing a more traditional and …
President Obama Wednesday stated during an appearance with Israeli President Shimon Peres that “the state of Israel will have no greater friend than the United States.” In public appearances with both Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, there were smiles and hugs all around. But all these smiles have to …
President Obama’s car came to a halt in Israel yesterday, reportedly because it had been filled with the wrong kind of gas. “This is a metaphor for his Middle East policy—he’s been running on the wrong kind of fuel,” said Heritage expert James Phillips. The Obama Doctrine—the President’s approach to …
As the Syrian civil war escalates, it is increasingly spilling over Syria’s borders to threaten Syria’s neighbors and the long-established U.N. peacekeeping forces deployed along Syria’s border with Israel. On Wednesday, Syrian rebels captured 21 peacekeeping troops from the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in the Golan Heights near …
