Politics - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Politics

MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images

After Jordan, Emirates also furious with Netanyahu

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not only managed to get into a diplomatic row with Jordan, he also succeeded in angering the Emiratis.

A cameraman arrives at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),prior to a press conference at the agency's headquarters in Vienna on March 4, 2021. - European nations will not go ahead with a planned resolution criticising Iran at this week's meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog, diplomatic sources said on March 4, 2021. (Photo by ALEX HALADA / AFP) (Photo by ALEX HALADA/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran operating new advanced centrifuges, nuclear watchdog finds

According to an International Atomic Energy Agency report, Iran is now using IR-4 centrifuges to enrich uranium in violation of the nuclear accord.

Turkish member of Parliament for the left wing political party Peoples' Democratic Party Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu (C) reacts as he is surrounded by MPs applauding and brandishing placards after he was dismissed following a vote at the Turkish Parliament in Ankara, on March 17, 2021. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP) (Photo by ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Lawsuit filed to close pro-Kurdish party after lawmaker stripped of parliamentary seat

Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu, a pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party deputy known to focus on human rights abuses, was stripped of his parliament seat and a lawsuit was filed to close the party March 17.

Netanyahu courts Arab voters as 'Abu Yair'

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has adopted a new strategy for the Arab public: cynically rebranding himself as "Abu Yair."

Latest News

Iran’s supreme leader authorized infowar campaign during US election

Rights group criticizes Jordan over debt imprisonment

Jordanian detainees look on through the window of a rehabilitation centre in Zarqa, 30 kilometres east of Amman, on July 11, 2018. (Photo by Khalil MAZRAAWI / AFP) (Photo credit should read KHALIL MAZRAAWI/AFP via Getty Images)

Lapid’s discrete campaign for premiership gains momentum

A man walks past election billboards of the Israeli Likud party (R to L) showing the face of Prime Minister and Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu with the tagline "leader", and another showing Netanyahu with political opponent Yair Lapid with text in Hebrew reading "the next prime minister: Lapid or Netanyahu", in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba on March 15, 2021, ahead of the election due later in the month. (Photo by HAZEM BADER / AFP) (Photo by HAZEM BADER/AFP via Getty Images)

COVID accelerates evolution of Gulf economies

Saudi female employees work at the customers service desk at a hypermarket, newly launched by the operator LuLu and run by a team of women, in the Saudi Arabian port city of Jeddah, on February 21, 2021. (Photo by Amer HILABI / AFP) (Photo by AMER HILABI/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman speaks at the 53rd Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, February 19, 2017. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle - RTSZCHS

How will ban on national fund affect Palestinians?

Israel’s recent decision to label the Palestinian National Fund, which serves as the PLO’s Ministry of Finance, as a “terror group” raised Palestinian concerns over the future of relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

FIFA's acting president Issa Hayatou addresses a news conference after a meeting of the Executive Committee at FIFA's headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland December 3, 2015. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann - RTX1X0JI

Egyptian court launches probe into sale of soccer broadcasting rights

The Egyptian public prosecutor decided to refer the former chairman of the Confederation of African Football to court on charges of violating Egyptian laws that prohibit monopolistic practices.

Palestinian supporters of Mazen Faqha, who was shot dead by unknown gunmen in the Gaza Strip a day earlier, march during a demonstration in the West Bank village of Tubas on March 25, 2017.
Gunmen in the Gaza Strip on March 24 shot dead a Hamas official who was freed by Israel in a 2011 prisoner swap, the interior ministry in the Palestinian enclave said. Faqha was released along with more than 1,000 other Palestinians in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier Hamas had detained for five years. / AFP

Assassination of Hamas senior operative won't ensure Passover calm

While Israel tries to prevent attempts by Hamas and other groups to perpetrate attacks during the Passover period, officially Israel did not take responsibility for the killing of Hamas military branch senior operative Mazen Faqha.

Members of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) attend the funeral of eight fellow fighters who died during an assault against the Islamic State (IS) group in the town of Manbij, in the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane (aka Ain al-Arab) on June 24, 2016. In the background a Martyrs memorial is under construction.
The US-backed Kurdish and Arab forces, pushed further into the Islamic State group stronghold of Manbij, seizing a key road junction and grain silos overlooking the city, a monitoring group said. The city l

Is Manbij the latest Kurdish poke in Erdogan's eye?

Erdogan's plan to contain Kurds suffers a setback as Manbij on Syria's northern border with Turkey declares itself a self-governed canton.

A Turkish flag (R) flies among others flags of NATO members during the North Atlantic Council (NAC) following Turkey's request for Article 4 consultations, at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, July 28, 2015. Turkey sought moral support for its campaign against militants in Syria and Iraq at an emergency meeting on Tuesday with its North Atlantic allies, with both NATO and Ankara playing down any idea of a call for military help from the alliance. Turkey requested urgent consultations with its

Turkey determined to test NATO

Turkey’s bargaining with Russia for the S-400 air defense system raises a number of military issues, the least of which being that the system is incompatible with NATO's defense structure.

A staff member removes the Iranian flag from the stage during the Iran nuclear talks in Vienna, Austria July 14, 2015. Carlos Barria: For more than a decade the United States and other world powers have participated in talks to reach an agreement on Iranís nuclear program. They and Iran have spent thousands of hours around a table seeking a solution to what the West sees as a threat to global stability if Iran gains the capability to make a nuclear bomb. The last chapter was in Vienna, where I travelled wit

Iran responds to US with 'reciprocal sanctions'

In response to new US sanctions on Iran’s ballistic missile program, Tehran sanctioned US firms that supply the Israeli government with arms and other equipment to support the settlement enterprise.

5 reasons to watch Rouhani’s visit to Russia

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani is in Moscow for his first official visit to Russia.

Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak waves from his room at the Maadi military hospital in Cairo on May 4, 2015 as his supporters gather outside the building for his birthday. An Egyptian court is expected to examine on May 7, 2015 an appeal filed by the prosecution against a lower court's verdict that dropped murder charges against Mubarak and also acquitted six of his top security chiefs of charges of killing protesters during the 2011 uprising. Standing behind Mubarak is a doctor. AFP PHOTO / MOHAMED E

Mubarak's release draws mixed reactions in Egypt

While supporters of former President Hosni Mubarak celebrated his release, others in Egypt lament that many activists still languish behind prison bars.

Commuters are seen inside Sadat metro station underneath Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, June 17, 2015. Egypt reopened a vital downtown Cairo metro station on Wednesday after a two-year closure, signalling government confidence in the security situation regardless of a series of low-level attacks in the capital. Located underneath Tahrir Square, a symbol of the popular uprising that toppled veteran leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011, the Sadat metro station is one of the largest and most central stations in Cairo.

Cairo metro drowns in debt, risks shutdown

The Cairo metro system owes vast sums to electrical, water and maintenance companies, and this week's move to double the price of a ticket to about $0.11 a ride isn't enough to solve the debt problem.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) meets with Chechnya's leader Ramzan Kadyrov at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, March 25, 2016. REUTERS/Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/Kremlin ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. - RTSC7SC

What’s Chechnya doing in Syria?

Russia is finding the Republic of Chechnya’s influence to be very helpful in Syria.

Idlib — more than Raqqa — may be decisive Syria fault line

Russian-Turkish agreement under strain in key northern city.

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Minister of Defense Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., March 14, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque - RTX30ZWC

Saudis jump on Trump bandwagon

After a deep disillusionment with the United States during Obama’s terms in office, the Saudis are now looking toward a better relationship with the Trump administration.