A quarter-century before Israel was founded, the Zionist leader Zeev Jabotinsky articulated an idea that has come to define the way Israelis protect their country. A Jewish state, he wrote in 1923, would succeed only by projecting enough strength to force its enemies to accept it as a permanent reality. …
Read More »Deadly Hezbollah Strike on Army Base Shows Israel’s Weakness Against Drones
Minutes before a deadly Hezbollah drone strike on an army base in northern Israel this weekend, Israeli police officers notified the Air Force about reports of a suspicious aircraft, the police said. They were told not to worry because the aircraft was Israeli, prompting the officers to close the case. …
Read More »What is the THAAD Antimissile System the U.S. Is Giving to Israel?
The advanced THAAD air defense system that the United States is sending to Israel is a sign of how both countries are bracing for more attacks against Israel by Iran and its allies. It adds another layer of protection to the several types of air defense systems that Israel already …
Read More »Secret Documents Show Hamas Tried to Persuade Iran to Join Its Oct. 7 Attack
For more than two years, Yahya Sinwar huddled with his top Hamas commanders and plotted what they hoped would be the most devastating and destabilizing attack on Israel in the militant group’s four-decade history. Minutes of Hamas’s secret meetings, seized by the Israeli military and obtained by The New York …
Read More »Israeli Strikes on Northern Gaza Kill at Least 20, Aid Workers Say
The humanitarian crisis in the northern Gaza Strip deepened on Saturday as an Israeli bombardment killed at least 20 people, trapped thousands more and prompted one of the area’s last functioning hospitals to issue desperate pleas for assistance. Israeli airstrikes overnight and into Saturday hit the Jabaliya area of northern …
Read More »What International Law Says About Israel’s Invasion of Lebanon
Since the start of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon last month, debate has swirled regarding the wisdom of Israel’s two-front strategy amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza, the threat that the fight against Hezbollah poses to civilians and the risk it could ignite a regional war with Iran. But perhaps even …
Read More »In Battered Lebanon, a Lone Gas Station Is a Lifeline in the East
The gas station is nestled on the side of the road, a lone hive of liveliness in an otherwise deserted stretch of eastern Lebanon. By 9 a.m., a steady stream of cars is already pulling up to its pump, and the station’s owner, Ali Jawad, waves them in one by …
Read More »Lebanon’s Leader Calls on U.N. for Cease-Fire Amid Search for Airstrike Survivors
Rescuers dug through piles of rubble in central Beirut on Friday, looking for survivors and bodies, a day after deadly airstrikes in two densely populated neighborhoods of the Lebanese capital spread fear that no place in the country was safe from the Israeli military onslaught against Hezbollah. Lebanese officials said …
Read More »Israeli and U.S. Defense Ministers Discuss Israel’s Expanding Conflicts in Mideast
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III spoke on Thursday with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, about Israel’s expanding military operations in Lebanon, the Pentagon said on Friday. A short summary of the call released by Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, Mr. Austin’s spokesman, made no mention of any discussion about Israel’s …
Read More »Lebanon’s Prime Minister Calls for U.N. Resolution on an ‘Immediate’ Cease-Fire
Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, appealed to the United Nations on Friday to adopt a resolution calling for an “immediate” cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, the latest attempt by his embattled government to bring an end to the violence in Lebanon that has killed thousands and displaced nearly one …
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