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Israel's "Iron Dome" defense system has emerged as a game-changer in the current round of violence with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, shooting down dozens of incoming rockets and being credited with preventing numerous civilian casualties. By shooting down more than 90 percent of its targets, the system is ensuring Israel's decisive technological edge that has helped it operate virtually unhindered in Gaza. At the same time, it's also providing a much-needed sense of security on the home front.....

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday night urged Israel to scrap plans for a ground operation in Gaza, saying that "too many" Palestinian Arab civilians have been killed, AFP reported. Repeating his call for a ceasefire, the secretary-general said he "feels a sense of responsibility for the Palestinians who, especially in the Gaza Strip, have long been denied the sense of freedom and dignity that they deserve," according to a statement released by his spokesman Stephane Dujarric. The situation in Gaza "appears to be worsening," Ban said, noting that the UN Security Council's call for a ceasefire had...

The current Hamas assault on Israel has lured the predictable coven of Palestinian nationalists, Islamists, Leftists, and antisemites from the woodwork to bash the Jewish state. But, more surprisingly, Israel is getting support, or at least restraint and fairness, from unexpected sources: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon... Jordan's Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh... François Hollande, president of France... The BBC... CNN's Jake Tapper... Azza Sami, Al-Ahram: "Thank you Netanyahu and may God give us more like you to destroy Hamas." Amr Mustafa, actor, addressing Palestinians in the Gaza Strip... Al-Bashayer newspaper... Hamdi Bakhit, a former general: Israel should re-occupy the Gaza...

I remember once when -- we were sitting shiva for my paternal grandmother, I think-- I mentioned to my grandfather how smart I thought my youngest cousin, David, was. He replied, “All my grandchildren are smart, but the longer they go to school the dumber they get.” I thought of this when Drudge reported “42% of Millennials say they’re socialists, 16% know what a socialist is.” I guess the other 26% think it means they twitter. On the other hand, though the news of the world seems grim, there are small rays of intelligence starting to beam through the dopiness....

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. expressed “extreme, extreme concern” on Sunday over reports that bomb makers from Yemen responsible for the 2009 underwear-bomb plot are now in Syria cooperating with foreign militants there, possibly to develop new, nearly undetectable explosive devices. Asked on Sunday whether that threat was a “clear and present danger,” Mr. Holder responded: “I think it is. In some ways, it’s more frightening than anything I think I’ve seen as attorney general.”

Dr. Lisa Rosenberg, a physician from New York, was returning home from vacation boarding a flight from PBIA to John F. Kennedy International Airport. She said she had just finished a phone conversation with a colleague when a woman said she was offended by Rosenberg’s remarks. “I was saying how it was good Israel found the students that killed the Palestinian teenager and how it was exemplary not making them into heroes, but seeking to publicly try them,” Rosenberg said. “I said any other country would have made these students out to be martyrs and celebrating them.” Rosenberg added that...

Mahmoud Abbas, the sometimes moderate, often ineffectual leader of the Palestinian Authority, just asked his rivals in Hamas a question that other bewildered people are also asking: “What are you trying to achieve by sending rockets?” The Gaza-based Hamas has recently fired more than 500 rockets at Israeli towns and cities. This has terrorized the citizenry, though caused few casualties, in large part because Israel is protected by the Iron Dome anti-rocket system. In reaction to these indiscriminately fired missiles, Israel has bombarded targets across Gaza. Compared with violent death rates in other parts of the Middle East, the number...

Does Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu really support a two-state solution, or is his rhetoric to this effect disingenuous? Did he genuinely seek an accommodation with the Palestinians during the nine months of US-brokered negotiations that collapsed in April, or was he just stringing the Americans and the Palestinians along, while his heart is truly with the settlement enterprise? >>SNIP<< Netanyahu began his appearance, typically, by reading some prepared remarks. But then, most atypically, he took a series of questions. And while he initially stuck to responses tied to the war against Hamas, its goals, and the terms under which it...

Netanyahu finally speaks his mind At his Friday press conference, the prime minister ruled out full Palestinian sovereignty, derided the US approach to Israeli security, and set out his Middle East overview with unprecedented candor. His remarks were not widely reported; they should be BY DAVID HOROVITZ TOI July 13, 2014, These are fundamental questions — questions you’d think Israelis and the watching world would long since have been able to answer, especially given that Netanyahu is Israel’s second-longest serving prime minister ever. In fact, though, while many pundits claim to have definitive answers, most Israelis would acknowledge that they’ve...

If Nouri al-Maliki wanted to dissolve the Iraqi union purposefully, he could hardly be doing a better job. While Kurds fight ISIS in the north — and more effectively than Maliki’s politically purged army has — Maliki accused them of being in league with the extremists even as Kurds mull over whether to just go on their own. Now they want Maliki out, or they’ll be leaving for good: Iraq’s Kurds said Thursday Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was “hysterical” and not fit to run the country, further dimming the prospect of a new leadership uniting to face jihadist fighters.The...

Seventy thousand Gazans from Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah were in the dark Sunday night after a Hamas rocket hit the power line that supplies electricity to those places. It's not clear when Israel Electric Company workers will be able to repair the system, but they are apparently in no rush to do so. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has asked the IEC not to risk the lives of its employees in trying to restore power to the affected sector in Gaza, an operation that could take hours. As Operation Protective Edge enters its seventh day, many Israelis are demanding that...

The UN's special refugee agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, reported Sunday that about 4,000 residents of northern Gaza have fled their homes after the IDF told them to do so, starting last night. In addition, about 850 Palestinians with foreign nationalities are leaving Gaza through the Erez checkpoint. Three hundred of these had already done so by the early afternoon. Israeli aircraft dropped leaflets on border areas in northern Gaza, calling on the citizens to evacuate their homes before noon Sunday as it prepared to bomb the area. The IDF warned that those who do not obey their instructions will be...

Israeli naval commandos fought Hamas gunmen in a dramatic beach front firefight on Sunday after Israel attempted the first boots-on-the ground operation of its ongoing offensive in Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, later warned that the military operation, that has so far killed 166 Palestinians, could gone on for a "long time". The early morning clash broke out after Hamas militants – alerted by a lookout stationed in a nearby mosque – intercepted Israeli special forces trying wade ashore at Sudaniya in northern Gaza. The two sides engaged each other in the sea, according to one witness account,...

A mortar shell from Syria was fired on Sunday evening towards the Israeli side of the Golan Heights and exploded near the Druze village of Mas’ade. The mortar shell exploded in an open area, causing no physical injuries or damages. The IDF responded with artillery fire towards Syrian military posts, and the IDF Spokesman said direct hits were identified. The incident marks the third time in recent weeks that fire was opened towards Israel from the Syrian side of the Golan Heights. Late last month, an Israeli teenager was killed and several people were wounded after an explosive device was...

I've been caught asking myself the same question many times this week. "Does our President believe in terrorism?" No, I'm not asking if he personally believes in the use of terrorism, or the ideology of terrorism, or the effectiveness of the weapon of terrorism. Some of my critics are already condemning me for not asking that question from the start. And as well intentioned as some are who would hold those positions, I feel a need to break things down into even more succinct pieces. Does President Obama believe in terrorism's existence and imminence in the days we live this...

CNN’s Jake Tapper has taken notice of two disturbing hashtags that have recently surfaced, apparently in response to Israel’s Operation Protective Edge: #HitlerWasRight and #HitlerDidNothingWrong. And as he notes, Adolf Hitler was no friend to the Arabs. That hasn’t stopped the hashtags from spreading, though.

On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed support for Israel in its struggle against Hamas and its supporters, and cited the three Israeli teenagers who had been recently murdered. "I follow closely what's going on in Israel," said Putin to a delegation of rabbis. "I support the struggle of Israel as it attempts to protect its citizens. I also heard about the shocking murder of the three youths. It is an act that cannot be allowed, and I ask you to transmit my condolences to the families." Putin referenced Jews during the Holocaust, saying, "I remember visiting in the Yad...

Sirens sounded Saturday evening in northern Israel as rockets were apparently fired from Lebanon into the Jewish state. The sirens sounded in Nahariya, Rosh Hanikra, Shlomi, Kabri and Hanita, along the border with Lebanon. Initial analysis said that the rockets were apparently fired from Lebanon by a Palestinian Lebanese terror group. "Two rockets fired from Lebanon hit uninhabited areas in the Nahariya region," a coastal town around 12 kilometers (seven miles) from the border with Lebanon, an army spokeswoman told AFP. Israel responded with artillery fire targeting the firing points. A Lebanese security source told AFP at least one rocket...

Israeli ground troops entered northern Gaza tonight to take out a number of missile launch sites, according to the Israeli military. The move comes after weeks of growing tensions and nearly a week of escalating missile strikes from both sides. The mission was launched early Sunday local time comes after the UN Security Council urged the two sides to reach a cease fire, and the Israeli government said it hit northern Gaza "with great force" to prevent more Hamas rocket attacks. The IDF, the Israeli military, said its goal in crossing into northern Gaza was to dismantle some of the...

Five days after the launch of Operation Protective Edge, Israel’s effort to put a halt to Hamas rocket fire, some 600 rockets had been fired from Gaza at Israel. Rockets fired throughout Saturday targeted communities near the Gaza Strip as well as Beersheba, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Rehovot and Rishon Lezion. Hamas launched a major assault on central Israel in late evening. An American tourist died of a heart attack after sirens wailed in Jerusalem. Palestinian reports say at least 150 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air strikes, including more than 15 in a strike late Saturday aimed at Hamas’s Gaza...