Israel

Alex Fishman

Clandestine ties with Jordan, secret coordination meetings in Moscow, encrypted conference calls with the Americans, joint drills with the Greeks, and relations with military attaches from over 30 countries. As the Foreign Ministry collapses and Israel's international standing is undermined, the IDF is coming out ahead on the diplomatic front.

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report 
US President Barack Obama has retracted on his pledge of an extra defense package to compensate Israel for the damage caused its security by the nuclear deal concluded with Iran last year. This flat refusal, reported here by DEBKAfile’s Washington sources, confronted Israeli officials when they met last week with heads of the National Security Council at the White House.

By Michael Curtis

Some developments in international affairs occasion no surprise. The announcement on January 28, 2016 by the military wing of the terrorist group Hamas, which controls the Gaza strip, that seven of its members were killed when a tunnel, which they were repairing in order to attack Israeli civilians, had collapsed reminded the world that Islamist terrorism continues. The eagerness of European countries to make business arrangements with Iran illustrates that the supposed concern for human rights and about the threat of a nuclear Iran is of small importance compared with economic opportunities.