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Analysis: Israel’s rail system is in trouble with possible ramifications on the upcoming election

Transport policy is not usually a central policy concern of Israeli elections. However, this year’s election is set to be extremely close and dysfunction and strikes among Israel’s railways has the potential to be a decisive factor in determining the election’s outcome. Israel’s state comptroller recently released a damning report on the state of nation’s railways,…

Analysis: Will Arab-Israelis determine Netanyahu’s fate?

Photo: Anan Maalouf, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Benjamin Netanyahu’s apparent effort to make the fear of Arab-Israelis a central part of his re-election campaign came under heavy attack from the country’s president this week. Reuven Rivlin did not name the prime minister, but few would have been unaware of the target of his remarks made…

Analysis: UK Hezbollah ban comes into force

Britain’s ban on Hezbollah came into force last Friday. It means that being a member or supporter of the antisemitic terror group is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The government’s move followed several years of campaigning by LFI and Jewish groups. Previously, only Hezbollah’s military wing was banned in the UK. Hezbollah itself does…

Analysis: Netanyahu indictment throws Israeli poll into flux

Israel’s general election campaign has been thrown into flux by legal and political developments which may put Benjamin Netanyahu’s long-term future as prime minister at risk. On Thursday, attorney general Avichai Mandelblit announced he was indicting the Israeli leader in relation to three police investigations into alleged corruption. The indictments – for fraud, bribery and breach of trust –…

Analysis: Who’s to blame for latest blow to coexistence funding?

Last year, the Trump administration abruptly axed $10m in US support for vital people-to-people work which brings together Israelis and Palestinians to promote the values of coexistence, peace and reconciliation. Now this crucial work has sustained another blow with the cessation of all US aid to the Palestinian Authority. It is the result of a series of complex legal…

Analysis: Who is Benny Gantz?

Seemingly out of nowhere, Benny Gantz’s newly formed Israel Resilience party has risen to second place in the opinion polls, representing the biggest barrier to Benjamin Netanyahu’s hopes of re-election in April. But the former IDF chief of staff’s surge has thus far been predicated on silence. By barely uttering an opinion about politics, he’s allowed…

Analysis: Watson leads protests against Malaysian bar on Israeli Paralympians

Photo: Tom Oxley, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons The deputy leader of the Labour party, Tom Watson, has led the protests against the decision of Malaysia to bar Israeli athletes from participating in the World Para Swimming Championships, a qualifying event for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games, which takes place in the country this summer. The…

Analysis: Israeli lifts lid on its effort to counter Iran in Syria

Photo: Hossein Zohrevand, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Israel has begun to lift the veil on its eight-year effort to counter Iran’s attempt to further its ambitions in Syria during the country’s bloody civil war. In an interview with the Sunday Times last weekend, Lieutenant-General Gadi Eisenkot, Israel’s top military commander, spoke openly for the first time about its…

Analysis: Will split opposition hand Bibi victory at the polls?

It has been dubbed the most consequential election in Israel’s 70-year history, but, only two weeks since the firing gun was pulled on a 9 April poll, a series of bewildering moves have shaken the country’s political landscape. The election – not officially due until November – was called on 24 December when the leaders of…

Analysis: Terror attacks focus attention on PA incitement

The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians claimed what it is thought to be its youngest victim with the death last week of four-day old Amiad Yisrael Ish-Ran. The baby was born last Sunday by emergency C-section hours after his pregnant mother and father were seriously injured in a shooting attack. Shira Ish-Ran and her husband Amichai…