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Found 1294 articles

Five days to Israel's poll: Frontrunner Netanyahu is slipping

March 7, 2009, 6:54 PM (GMT+02:00)

The man certain to form the next Israeli government after the general election of Feb. 10, Likud's Binyamin Netanyahu, started out with a handy lead of well over 30 Knesset seats (out of 120). But his campaign blunders are eroding this lead to below 30. The deserters are swinging over to Avigdor Lieberman's right-wing Israel Beitenu which is now polling 20 and still counting. In a campaign dominated by personalities and security concerns, Netanyahu's big mistake is his apparent choice of the unpopular Labor leader, Ehud Barak, to carry on as defense minister in the next government. His second is his refusal to name a finance minister for a country worried sick by the slide into serious recession and growing unemployment.
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Too Soon to Celebrate End of Gaza Conflict

March 2, 2009, 12:26 PM (GMT+02:00)

Deep divisions behind the smiles at the Arab Kuwait summit

Israeli leaders insist that Israel's armed forces left Hamas seriously crippled. This is undeniable but still the Gaza conflict is not over yet. The divisions in the Arab world have encouraged Tehran to persist in rearming Hamas and the Hamas-Damascus faction to maintain its intransigent posture. They are certain that high military tension against Israel in the Gaza Strip and the diplomatic pressure on Egypt will break them down. This contest of strength crackles with inflammatory potential, exacerbated by two key dates: Israel's general election on Feb. 10 - Arab foes have traditionally sought to influence the outcome of Israel's elections; and Feb. 12, the first anniversary of the violent death in Damascus of Hizballah's military chief Imad Mughniyeh. This simmering stew will greet the Obama administration's new Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, when he launches his mission this week.
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Meshaal Intervenes to Stop Hamas-Gaza from Succumbing to a Ceasefire

February 26, 2009, 11:51 AM (GMT+02:00)

Saturday, Jan. 10, Day 15 of Israel's Gaza Strip offensive against Hamas, top Palestinian leaders gathered in Cairo for ceasefire talks with Egyptian officials. DEBKAfile's military sources report that Jemal Abu Hashem, who rarely appears on public, Salah Bardaweel, leader of Hamas parliament faction, and Heiman Ta'a, member of the military wing's command, were allowed to exit Gaza Friday after signaling their willingness for the first time to discuss an unconditional ceasefire. The Hamas delegates were preparing for their talks on Egypt's ceasefire proposals to begin Sunday with intelligence minister Gen. Omar Suleiman, when their Damascus leader, Khaled Meshaal, dropped his bombshell. Speaking over Damascus TV, he declared Hamas must fight on until Israel ends its military offensive, withdraws from the Gaza Strip and opened the enclave's crossings. Egypt too must open the Rafah gate. Hamas would never accept any restrictions on its armament – a hint at Israel-Egyptian plans to block the Philadelphi route – and would treat international monitors as an "occupation" force. DEBKAfile's sources report that the Hamas leader's emotional tirade raised suspicions in Jerusalem that he may have obtained pledges from Tehran and Hizballah to stage a last-ditch operation to save Hamas from collapse. They also noted the widening rift between Hamas-Damascus and Hamas-Gaza, which is paying dearly for Palestinian "resistance."
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Erdogan Ruptures Turkish-Israel Relations

February 14, 2009, 9:39 AM (GMT+02:00)

A deep crisis in Turkish-Israel relations appears to be the first strategic casualty of Israel's offensive to suppress Hamas' rocket campaign. DEBKAfile's Ankara sources report that Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seriously planning to freeze the long-standing military ties between the US's foremost defense allies in the Middle East and call off forthcoming joint maneuvers. If his hostility toward Israel persists, it will have far-reaching fallout for American Middle East policies and Israel's defense position in the region. And there is no sign of him relenting; just the reverse.
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Has Livni buried the two-state solution of Israel-Palestinian dispute?

February 10, 2009, 9:25 AM (GMT+02:00)

Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni

The aspiring prime minister, foreign minister Tzipi Livni, broke new ground when she voiced her views on the Middle East dispute this week. She challenged US and European diplomacy's conventional wisdom of gearing peace to a two-state solution. Palestinian leader Ahmed Quraia followed her which disclosures of what he claimed to be Israel's last peace offer – and rejecting it out of hand. Tzipi Livni used an apparent paradox to bury the two-state solution. In a speech she gave to high school pupils Thursday, Dec. 11, she said: "The place for Israeli Arabs to exercise their national aspirations is a future Palestinian state - not Israel, which is the Jewish national home." Livni's next comment: "No single Palestinian refugee will be admitted to Israel" was a roundabout message in the same vein to the Israeli Arab minority (a steady one-fifth of the population). She clarified this later by saying that while Israeli Arabs would not be forced to leave or lose their civil rights, "those who wished to realize their national aspirations should look elsewhere," namely to a Palestinian state when it rises. But what Palestine was she talking about?
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US-Russian race to arm Lebanon with heavy weapons

February 8, 2009, 9:34 PM (GMT+02:00)

First 10 Cobras reach Lebanon

The United States and Russia are bidding hard against each other to give the Lebanese army heavy weapons, a contest which Israeli diplomacy has failed to deter, DEBKAfile's military sources report. Defense ministry official Amos Gilead arrived in Moscow Friday, Dec. 19 too late to stop sophisticated Russian S-300 air defense systems from speeding toward Tehran to guard its nuclear sites and the pledge of MiG-29 fighter jets to Lebanon. In Washington, too, Israeli diplomats pleaded in vain with Bush administration leaders to refrain from giving Lebanon tanks and a fleet of combat helicopters, lest American hardware fall into the hands of the Lebanese terrorist Hizballah, whose leaders vowed again Friday to destroy the Jewish state by launching a regional conflagration. Russia's strategic orbit, focused earlier on establishing naval bases in Syria's Mediterranean ports of Latakia and Tartous, is now extended to a military foothold 250 km to the south, right up to Israel's back door from Lebanon.
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Ehud Barak Holds IDF on Leash against Hamas Missiles, Hizballah Rockets

February 5, 2009, 9:15 AM (GMT+02:00)

Israel defense minister holds chief of staff in check

“To all the warmongers among you I say I am not minister of war but minister of defense.” This emotional statement was delivered by Ehud Barak Monday, Nov. 24, to his many critics at a briefing session of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee. He went on to lambast Iran for its energetic pursuit of its nuclear program while deceiving the world. Israel does not rule out any option against a nuclear-armed Iran, he said, “but the less said about this better.” DEBKAfile’s military sources suggest that Barak take his own advice. While never short of words and promises, his performance in deeds is seriously wanting. There are three fundamental problems with the defense minister’s position and they explain why he is sinking fast in all the opinion polls:
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Without a Shadow Cabinet and Clear Policies, Likud leader May Lose February election

January 24, 2009, 8:44 PM (GMT+02:00)

Binyamin Netanyahu must level with the voter if he wants to be prime minister

The Israeli voter will want to know the name of the defense, finance and foreign ministers in Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu's shadow cabinet well before general election date of Feb. 10, 2009. He – and she – are desperate for a fresh, credible team capable of addressing its deep concerns about a nuclear-armed Iran, a missile-battered southwest and an impending economic recession. Netanyahu will have to take this into account. He will have to roll up his sleeves as soon as soon as the list of candidates is chosen by the 99,000 registered Likud voters on Dec. 8 and set about building an alternative transition team.
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Iran Challenges Obama by Hiking Tensions on Israel’s Borders

January 10, 2009, 11:59 PM (GMT+02:00)

Israeli tanks in Gaza

The strategy the Islamic regime has charted for the new US president hinges on fanning tensions on Israel’s northern and southern borders while putting a damper on the various Middle East peace initiatives. Syria was therefore discouraged from returning to its indirect peace track with Israel and Hamas ordered to boycott Egypt’s bid to patch up the quarrel between the Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah. Tehran’s object is to show Barack Obama who holds the whip hand in the Middle East and force him to seek urgent talks to defuse rising tensions. Iran’s rulers want to force the new US president to seek them out for a back-door channel of communications before entering the White House and acknowledge them as the prime Middle East power. DEBKAfile’s Exclusive military sources disclose that Iranian agents, aided by Hizballah, are enlisting Palestinian militias in the big Lebanese Ain Hilwa refugee camp near Sidon and other camps for terrorist missions on Israel’s northern border.
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