Excerpt The 21st century will challenge democracy. Climate change, excessive wealth gaps, the impact of artificial intelligence, cyber attacks, misinformation, disinformation and, ultimately, domestic discontent—all threaten open society. But one challenge, a traditional one, stands head and shoulders above the rest. War. Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine has become a bloody war of attrition. But
In one week of the fighting that resumed following a pause, Israel faced challenges on its northern border with Lebanon as well as in Gaza where 25 IDF soldiers were killed. This brings the total number of IDF soldiers killed since October 7 to 420. While fighting continued in northern Gaza, this week saw a
Hezbollah attacks in northern Israel killed an Israeli civilian on Thursday, December 7. Additionally, the son of the former IDF Chief of Staff, Gadi Eisenkot, was killed in action with the IDF in Gaza. The IDF has now lost 416 soldiers since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, two months ago. The IDF continued to battle in the heart of Khan
Latest Developments Israel seeks a new diplomatic arrangement with Lebanon that would remove Hezbollah threats from the border area. “One option is to reach a different agreement, which could be similar to [United Nations Security Council Resolution] 1701, mediated by international parties,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on December 6. “They will respect our
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian warned of “terrible” days to come for Israel in a call with his Qatar counterpart, according to Iranian pro-regime media. The two men discussed the war in Gaza, Fars News and Tasnim News reported. Tehran and Doha have excellent ties; Iran’s foreign minister has traveled to Qatar to meet Hamas leaders
Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi is heading to Moscow on Thursday to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin. The meeting comes in the wake of Putin’s trip to the UAE and Saudi Arabia this week. As such, Russia will have done important outreach to numerous countries in the region. According to Russian state media, the Iranian leader is going
Israel Defense Forces reserve soldiers from the Alexandroni and 8th Armored brigades trained in the Golan Heights this week alongside engineering forces. Taking place in an open area between several hills, it included a battalion-level exercise of hundreds of soldiers. The reservists of the Alexandroni and the 8th Armored were called up in the wake
Israel is focused on defeating Hamas in Gaza. The Hamas threat has to be defeated due to the extensive crimes the group committed on October 7. Leaving any part of Hamas intact would send a message to the region that Israel is not willing or able to destroy a group that massacred 1,200 people in Israel
The Iran-backed Houthis have threatened ships in the Red Sea and Israel again on Wednesday, December 6. The UK’s Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said that it had “received a report of an incident involving an Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS) in the vicinity of position 1425N 04212E, 47nm west of port Hodeidah, Yemen.” Hodeidah is
U.S. government officials confirmed on Friday that “Cyber Av3ngers”, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-affiliated hacking group, attacked a Pittsburgh-area water utility and nearly ten other small utilities across the United States by compromising an Israeli-made industrial control device. Making good on threats to target any Israeli equipment anywhere in the world, the attackers are probing