In the past several weeks, Prime Minister Netanyahu suffered four defeats that undoubtedly will have serious repercussions on Israel’s global standing, especially if he succeeds in forming the next Israeli government. President Obama’s reelection humiliated Netanyahu, who openly supported Mitt Romney; he suffered a second defeat when the Palestinian Authority secured an observer Palestinian state…

Israel’s political system is dragging the country ever closer to complete paralysis, leaving critical national issues unresolved and threatening fateful consequences. While it is true that Israel enjoys a full-fledged democracy, effective democracy that serves national interests must be based on advice and consent between conflicting parties. The rights to hold different views and form…

One of the main impediments to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the complete lack of trust between the two sides. What makes the conflict even more intractable is that neither side believes that their distrust can be mitigated given the history of the conflict, their contrasting objectives, and the day-to-day experiences reinforced by the constant…

One would think that Prime Minister Netanyahu and his cohorts would one day come to their senses and realize that there are limits to which they can defy the international community, including the United States, without serious, if not perilous, repercussions for the state of Israel. As long as he is in power, Netanyahu has…

The victory of President Obama represents not only a defeat for the Republican Party but an embarrassment for Prime Minister Netanyahu, who has made his disdain for the President and his policies no secret. It is crucial, however, to distinguish between their contrasting personalities and the overall U.S.-Israel bilateral relationship, which remains as strong as…

Listening to Israeli and Hamas officials about the nature of their conflict and what precipitated the current conflagration, one comes to a definite conclusion: they are both right. At close scrutiny, however, one finds that while both may indeed be “right” they also are dead wrong. Both sides have successfully managed over the years to…

There are furious discussions and commentaries being made by top officials from the United States, Europe, Israel and the Palestinian Authority on the wisdom of the Palestinians’ attempt to upgrade their status in the U.N. from an Observer Entity to an Observer State. What the consequences would be for the Palestinians and the peace process…

Widely spread rumors circulating within the media in recent days suggest that the United States and Iran have agreed to enter into bilateral talks soon after the U.S. presidential elections in an effort to end the impasse over Iran’s nuclear program, which the U.S. suspects is designed to produce nuclear weapons—a suspicion Iran emphatically refutes….

The stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations and the lack of prospects for their resumption anytime soon has persuaded the Palestinian Authority (PA) to chart its own course by applying to the United Nations General Assembly (U.N.G.A.) as a non-voting member state. However uncertain the prospect of such a move may be from the PA’s perspective, there…