Iran crossed red line with Trump administration; US, Israel, region brace for response
January 4, 2020 by Yaakov Lappin
The American airstrike assassination of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force commander, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in Baghdad early on Friday follows a major miscalculation on the part of Tehran in the decision to up the ante against the United States. Read more
After 50 hours of fire exchanges, Israel waits to see if Gaza Strip stabilizes
November 15, 2019 by Yaakov Lappin
A ceasefire that appeared fragile, and which was punctured twice by rocket fire from Gaza, went into effect on Thursday after 50 hours of combat between the Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror faction and the Israel Defence Forces. Read more
Israel seeks to prevent further escalation on second day of conflict with Islamic Jihad
November 14, 2019 by Yaakov Lappin
Israel carefully managed its second day of conflict with Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) on Wednesday, keeping airstrikes focused on the suppression of Gazan rocket-launch squads, as Hamas, despite declarations, continued to sit on the sidelines. Read more
In Gaza Strip, Palestinian Islamic Jihad agitates for violence
November 6, 2019 by Yaakov Lappin
Palestinian Islamic Jihad—the second-largest armed terror faction in Gaza after Hamas—is agitating for violence, and is, in fact, the organization that conducted Friday-night’s rocket barrage on the Israeli border city of Sderot. Read more
Palestinian Islamic Jihad, backed by Iran, seeks rocket-launchers in West Bank
October 31, 2019 by Yaakov Lappin
Since Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005, Palestinian terror factions have turned Gaza into a major rocket production zone, and they’re trying to replicate some of those activities in the West Bank, so far without success. Read more
‘Entry of radical Islamist forces into northern Syria is disturbing,’ ex-Israeli intelligence official says
October 17, 2019 by Yaakov Lappin
Israel has been closely monitoring Turkey’s brutal offensive against the Kurds in northeast Syria in recent days. Read more
Leaving Syria: A blow to US deterrence, a boost to Middle East Islamists
October 8, 2019 by Yaakov Lappin
The decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to pull back troops from northern Syria in the face of a likely Turkish offensive against Kurdish forces is a blow to American deterrent power in the Middle East. Read more
Creating options and opportunities for haredi youth to serve in the IDF
September 27, 2019 by Yaakov Lappin
A recent political deadlock over the issue of drafting haredi (ultra-Orthodox) youths into the Israel Defence Forces was one of the key reasons that led Israelis to the polls last week for the second time in less than six months. Read more
Blue and White’s focus shifts to unity government option after exit polls
September 18, 2019 by Yaakov Lappin
As the clocked counted down the minutes to the initial exit polls at Blue and White Party headquarters, its leaders headed out into the “field,” taking to beaches and shopping centers across central Israel urging potential voters to the ballot box. Read more
IDF foils Hezbollah’s risky attacks and its attempts to secure guided missiles
September 3, 2019 by Yaakov Lappin
Hezbollah launched a dangerous attack on an Israel Defense Forces’ base in northern Israel on Sunday—an attack that could have resulted in a rapid deterioration into a larger conflict. Read more
Israel’s campaign to disrupt the Iranian war machine in Syria continues
August 27, 2019 by Yaakov Lappin
Israeli Minister Tzachi Hanegbi: There is a “deep struggle” underway in Iran over the country’s ongoing efforts to entrench itself in Syria, and Israel publicized the latest strike to strengthen these voices. Read more
Power struggles over ‘day after Abbas’ rage largely under the surface, for now
July 24, 2019 by Yaakov Lappin
In the West Bank, a number of factions, militias and armed terror organizations have been thinking for a while now about the day after the leadership of Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas comes to an end. Read more
Iran is dragging the Middle East into a dangerous standoff
June 18, 2019 by Yaakov Lappin
In recent weeks, Iran and its proxies have begun operating under a new directive best described as a policy of controlled escalation. Still, the potential for miscalculation and regionwide conflict has grown considerably. Read more
Nurses on the front line: IDF pilot program aimed at improving battlefield medicine
June 2, 2019 by Yaakov Lappin
The Israel Defense Forces’ Medical Corps is in the midst of a pilot program that places nurses and male nurses in combat battalions, as part a series of changes designed to improve the military’s medical services. Read more
Gaza remains highly flammable, despite reports of Israel’s ‘new understanding with Hamas’
May 22, 2019 by Yaakov Lappin
According to a report by Israel’s Channel 12 that was aired on Tuesday evening, Israel and Hamas have reached informal new understandings, designed to allow calm to prevail in the next six months. Read more
Gaza and Israel enter shaky ceasefire; many predict it to be short-lived
May 9, 2019 by Yaakov Lappin
An ultra-violent yet brief conflict that erupted between Gazan terror factions and Israel came to an abrupt end early on Monday morning, as an unstable ceasefire took hold. Read more
Gantz’s plan for Gaza: After creating deterrence, a regional push to rehabilitate the Strip
May 7, 2019 by Yaakov Lappin
Blue and White Party leader and former Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Benny Gantz laid out his own alternative plan for dealing with the Gazan threat during a visit to Israel’s rocket-stricken south on Sunday. Read more
Palestinian Islamic Jihad started a fire in Gaza
May 5, 2019 by Yaakov Lappin
The Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror organization – the second largest armed faction in Gaza – is responsible for the latest escalation in Gaza and Israel. Read more
‘Your opportunities are limitless,’ NASA astronaut tells Israel Air Force personnel
April 18, 2019 by Yaakov Lappin
As NASA astronaut Richard R. (“Ricky”) Arnold projected slides showing images of his time on board the International Space Station, a lecture hall filled with young Israel Air Force personnel sat spellbound, absorbing his every word. Read more
Hamas ‘war of attrition’ against Israel’s south could resume on ‘Land Day’
March 29, 2019 by Yaakov Lappin
Hamas is set to hold a mass march this Saturday to the Gazan-Israeli border to mark “Land Day,” an event that has the potential to transform into mass disturbances, which, in turn, could reignite Gazan rocket fire and Israeli military strikes. Read more
IDF pummels Hamas after one rocket attack too many
March 26, 2019 by Yaakov Lappin
The Hamas rocket that shattered a village home in the Sharon district of central Israel, north of Tel Aviv early on Monday morning, is an attack that for Israeli leadership represents a step too far. Read more
Rockets on Tel Aviv an escalation that could cost Hamas dearly
March 15, 2019 by Yaakov Lappin
Thursday night’s twin rocket attack on greater Tel Aviv from the Gaza Strip marks a dramatic escalation of the security situation that could prove to be highly costly for Hamas. Read more
Can Israel defeat Hamas without toppling it?
February 24, 2019 by Yaakov Lappin
So far, Israel’s objectives in armed conflicts with Hamas have been limited so as to avoid the need to reoccupy Gaza or to send it down the “Somalia model” path of chaos. But there might be a third option. Read more
As its popularity is challenged, Hamas keeps watchful eye over its Palestinian rival in Gaza
January 27, 2019 by Yaakov Lappin
Tensions between Israel and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip have sparked a number of armed conflicts and smaller scale flare-ups in the last decade. Yet within Gaza there is a web of internal tensions and simmering rivalries between Palestinian factions. So far, these have not posed a threat to Hamas’s iron grip on its enclave, but as its popularity is questioned, that might change one day. Read more
Six years after completion, Israel’s border fence with Egypt has transformed the south
January 13, 2019 by Yaakov Lappin
This time six years ago, Israel completed its high-tech border fence with Egypt, marking the start of a transformation in the situation along this restive frontier…writes Yaakov Lappin/JNS. Read more
A new Mideast order is taking shape, says ex-senior Israeli intelligence officer
January 8, 2019 by Yaakov Lappin
The era of chaos in the Middle East is drawing to a close, and a new phase, which contains its own set of dangers, is taking shape, a senior former intelligence official has told JNS…writes Yaakov Lappin/JNS. Read more
Is the IDF ready for all-out war? In Israel, the debate rages on
January 6, 2019 by Yaakov Lappin
The question of just how ready the Israel Defense Forces is for war has dominated Israel’s headlines in recent weeks…writes Yaakov Lappin/JNS. Read more
With SpaceIL launch, Israeli children can dream about ‘reaching the moon’ and beyond
January 3, 2019 by Yaakov Lappin
In 2019, a team of Israelis will make history when an unmanned spacecraft they built will launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla., destined for the moon. Read more
Russia struggling to stop the Iranian-Israeli shadow war in Syria
December 28, 2018 by Yaakov Lappin
It didn’t take long for the recent Israeli Air Force strikes on Iranian or Hezbollah targets in the Damascus area to receive Russian condemnation…writes Yaakov Lappin/JNS. Read more
Widening the Iranian corridor to Syria
December 21, 2018 by Yaakov Lappin
In responding to U.S. President Trump’s surprise announcement of a withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Syria on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu issued a brief statement that contained two messages…writes Yaakov Lappin/JNS. Read more