The peace agreement between Israel and the UAE lays the foundation for a future Israeli-Arab alliance, which has been quietly developing behind the scenes over the past several years. I believe that over a relatively short period of time, such an alliance will emerge, eventually including nine Arab States: the UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia,…

Notwithstanding what has been commonly discussed, if the Netanyahu government moves on its plan to annex nearly 30 percent of the West Bank, which will include the Jordan Valley and Israeli settlements, it would precipitate major adversarial repercussions for Israel. To begin with, violence between Israelis and Palestinians will substantially increase and potentially lead to…

As Israel celebrates the 72nd anniversary of its independence, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues to simmer as neither side seems to have learned anything from their seven decades-old conflict, and dramatic changes on the ground are readily dismissed. Charges and counter-charges against one another continue unabated as if everything was frozen in time. Israelis and Palestinians…

The formation of an Israeli coalition government led by Netanyahu and Gantz, the leaders of Likud and Kahol Lavan respectively, will finally put an end to Israel’s nearly 18 month-long political paralysis and, for now, personal rivalry following three elections. Both agreed on a host of important socio-economic and security matters. The most ominous issue…

It is said where are two Jews, there are three opinions. And in the state of Israel, there is yet another version: where there are five Jews, there are nine political parties. There are certainly advantages to having different views on every topic, especially when the issues under discussion are seriously consequential and relate to…

Four ethical theories—Kantian, utilitarian, virtue-based, and religious—demonstrate the lack of moral foundation in the continuing Israeli occupation of the West Bank and especially in Trump’s “deal of the century”. In my previous article I discussed Kantian and utilitarian moral theories, and in the following I cover the virtue-based and religious theories as they apply to…

A version of this article was originally published on December 10, 2015. The changes from the original article to this piece below encompass the inclusion of Trump’s so-called “deal of the century”, which will only perpetuate the occupation. Sadly, the situation has not changed in the past four years, and given how the situation currently…

After three years in office, one can hardly be surprised at what Trump is capable of saying, doing, or scheming. In the middle of his impeachment trial, Trump finally released his “deal of the century”—a deal that completely ignored several United Nations resolutions, accords that were sponsored by the European community and the United States,…

Since the Second Intifada in 2000, the Israelis have been steadily moving to the right-of-center. Successive Israeli governments have made national security central to Israel’s very survival, and linking it to the presumed existential threat posed by the Palestinians has become the national mantra. Thus, controlling the Palestinians’ lives and their territory became synonymous with…