Blinken’s Rafah blunder

In a press conference on Thursday in Cairo, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated his opposition to an Israeli ground operation in Rafah, saying that such a move would be a “mistake.” Read more

Blinken says truce ‘possible’ as Hamas responds to plan

The Palestinian militant group Hamas says it has delivered its response to a proposed ceasefire deal for Gaza, and the United States says it believes an agreement is possible. Read more

Palestinians pin hopes on Gaza truce before Rafah push

The top United States diplomat has met Saudi Arabia’s de-facto ruler in a visit that Palestinians hope will deliver a truce before a threatened Israeli assault on Rafah, the border city where about half of the population is sheltering. Read more

Egypt border to reopen, work on aid delivery, says US

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the Egyptian-controlled border crossing into Gaza will reopen and the US is working with Egypt, Israel and the United Nations to get assistance through it. Read more

Conditional Friendships

One can always discern when a potential friendship is really a conditional one. Read more

Pull the other one

When someone tells you something that is so patently absurd, the natural response is an old English expression “pull the other one, it has got bells on it.” Read more

Herzog meets with Blinken after White House visit

Israeli President Isaac Herzog met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday after visiting President Joe Biden at the White House. Read more

US warns Israel against Jewish settlements expansion

Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged continued US commitment to both Israel’s security and a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict but warned the expansion of Jewish settlements would be an obstacle to peace. Read more

Report: On PA’s request, US to Add Israeli orgs Lehava and La Familia to list of terrorist organizations

During an angry phone call between Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on May 31, the latter promised Abbas that the Biden administration would soon add the Israeli Lehava (Flame) and La Familia organizations to the list of US-designated terrorist organizations, TPS has learned. Read more

US messages to Ramallah: ‘Economic Dialogue – Yes, Diplomatic Contacts – No’

The Biden administration has postponed the move to open a US consulate in Jerusalem, the newspaper Al-Quds reported, stating that this development is a result of pressure exerted by Israeli elements and the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC on the Biden administration. Read more

US re-elected to UN Human Rights Council, vows to ‘push back’ against anti-Israel bias

The United States was elected to the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Thursday, reversing a move by the Trump administration, which withdrew from the international body in 2018 over its anti-Israel prejudice. Read more

The real reason for Western support of the Palestinians

Michael Oren, Israel’s former ambassador to the United States who is now a candidate to head the Jewish Agency, has rightly said that the decline in support for Israel among American Jews has reached a crisis point. Read more

‘Reliable Friend’: PM Bennett meets with Secretary of State Blinken

Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met on Wednesday in Washington with Secretary of State Antony Blinken as part of a series of meeting with President Joe Biden and top US defence officials. Read more

Israeli FM: Iran is ‘exporter of terrorism that harms entire world’

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid spoke on Saturday night with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken about the attack on the Israeli-owned ship in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday night, in which an Iranian drone killed two crewmen. Read more

FM Lapid meets Sec. Blinken in Rome, Iran Deal on the table

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in Rome yesterday, presumably to discuss the US’ push to renew the nuclear deal with Iran, which could threaten Israel. Read more

The irrational faith in reason of the liberal intellectual

Anyone who imagines that the increasingly aggressive behaviour of the Iranian regime will force U.S. President Joe Biden to abandon his attempted revival of the lethal 2015 nuclear deal is almost certainly in for a rude awakening. Read more

Gantz meets with Biden officials as US lawmakers encourage Iron Dome replenishment

Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz arrived in Washington on Wednesday as part of his two-day trip to shore up support for Israel’s security and request $1 billion to help Israel replenish its Iron Dome interceptor rockets. Read more

Blinken blunders and other balagan

For those uninitiated in the nuances of modern Israeli discourse, balagan loosely translated means chaos or fiasco. Read more

Actions, not bromides, are how the West must confront rabid antisemitism

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and his counterpart, Britain’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, visited Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week to offer help in building on the ceasefire with Hamas. Read more

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Former Ambassador David Friedman: ‘Trump administration would have given Israel free reign to defend itself’

Secretary of State Antony Blinken was dispatched to Israel by U.S. President Joe Biden this week in the direct aftermath of an acute conflagration highlighted by 11 days of indiscriminate rocket attacks by Hamas on Israeli population centres and pinpoint Israeli airstrikes on Hamas installations in Gaza in retaliation. Read more

US Sec. Blinken visits Middle East to ‘Solidify Ceasefire’ with Hamas

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Israel in wake of the IDF’s counterterrorism Operation Guardian of the Walls against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Read more

America has made a serious mistake on UNRWA

The Biden administration’s regressive decision to include $150 million for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) as part of its restoration of more than $200 million of financial aid to the Palestinians symbolizes its deeper refusal to recognize the gargantuan obstacle this agency has placed in the way of resolving their ongoing conflict with Israel. Read more

Abbas’s snubs work like a charm on Biden

Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas may be facing serious challenges to his reign in Ramallah, but he’s having no trouble playing the powers-that-be in Washington. Read more