The Israel Defense Forces have in recent weeks been instructed to prepare for the possibility that the U.S. will conduct a military strike against Iran before President Trump leaves office, senior Israeli officials tell me.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Tuesday that he is planning to make his first official visit to Bahrain in the near future, the Jerusalem Post reports. Like Sudan and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain has recently signed a US-brokered normalization agreement with Israel.
The United States this week rapidly deployed several heavy bombers to the Middle East this week in an apparent threat to Iran, amid swirling speculation that US President Donald Trump plans to take military action against Tehran before President-elect Joe Biden enters office.
In a move aimed at pressuring the centrist Blue and White party to break ranks with the coalition amid an ongoing deterioration of relations within the government, opposition leader Yair Lapid said Monday that he’ll lead a proposal next week to disperse the Knesset and call new elections.
Israel’s Channel 12 has reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mossad chief Yossi Cohen flew to Saudi Arabia Sunday for a secret meeting with officials there, All Israel News (AIN) reports. Although the meeting has not been confirmed by the Prime Minister’s office, the news has caused speculation that, following Bahrain, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia may become the next Arab state to normalize relations with Israel.
Iran on Sunday vowed to defeat any Israeli attempt to harm its role in Syria, saying the era of “hit and run” attacks by Israel there was over, days after Israel carried out airstrikes on the Syrian army and Iranian paramilitary targets in the country.
The IDF struck Hamas targets in Gaza overnight on Saturday, after Palestinian terrorists fired a rocket toward Israel, setting off air raid sirens in the southern city of Ashkelon, the military announced.
Israel is in the final stages of talks with British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca to purchase “millions” of doses of its vaccine, which is currently under trial, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Friday.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Thursday that the US will withdraw government funding from organizations it identifies as engaging in “hateful BDS conduct,” the Washington Examiner reports. Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) is an international Palestinian-led, non-violent movement that challenges what its founders describe as “Israeli apartheid and settler-colonialism.”
A blast hit the Al Arish-Al Qantara natural gas pipeline in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on Thursday, witnesses and local authorities said.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Wednesday praised the Palestinian Authority’s decision to resume security cooperation with Israel, saying the move benefited both Israelis and Palestinians.
The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday night released footage of some of its predawn airstrikes against Iranian and Syrian military sites in southern Syria, which came in response to an attempted attack on Israeli troops that was thwarted the day before.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday met said during a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Bahrain’s foreign minister that regional normalization deals leave Iran “ever more isolated”.
Israel carried out a round of airstrikes in Syria early Wednesday morning in what military officials said was a message to Iran to get out of the country, the Times of Israel reports. The strikes followed a thwarted Iran-backed attempt to set off anti-personnel mines against Israeli troops on the Golan Heights this week.
The Israel Defense Forces attacked Iranian and Syrian targets in Syria early Wednesday morning in response to explosives troops uncovered on Israel’s border with Syria on Tuesday.
More than half of Israelis (52%) say they “think they would not” or are “convinced they would not” be vaccinated against the coronavirus if a vaccine becomes widely available, according to a new survey by the Israel Democracy Institute.
Archaeologists in Israel have discovered an ancient fortress from the time of King David, the Christian Post reports. Announcing the discovery, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said the fortress was found during preparatory work for a new residential area in the Golan region.
The United States and Israel could have some potential surprises waiting in store for Iran, the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, in the final weeks of the Trump administration, including the possibility of launching strikes against a nuclear facility.
The speculation has a number of catalysts. First was the firing of Mark Esper as secretary of defense this past week and the replacement of him and other top Pentagon officials with Trump ideologues. Some media outlets in the US have raised the possibility that Trump wanted to get Esper out of the way, so he could more easily carry out controversial military moves.
The decision by three Arab states to make peace with Israel can be credited both to efforts by the White House under US President Donald Trump administration and the recognition by these Sunni states that doing so would bolster their security against ongoing threats from Turkey and Iran.