The city of Nazareth, famous for being the childhood home of Jesus Christ, was the epicentre of a powerful earthquake late Thursday evening which was felt all over the Galilee region and as far south as Jerusalem. Residents of Nazareth and surrounding communities reported hearing loud explosions during the tremors which lasted for several seconds. It was the latest seismic event in the north of Israel following a series of similar sized quakes in recent months.

Official media outlets in Iran carried statements by senior officials on Thursday denouncing their Russian allies for failing to use the S-300 air defence system during last Sunday’s round of Israeli airstrikes on Iranian and Assad regime military targets in Syria, despite statements from the Kremlin insisting that the systems deployed in Syria are not yet operational.

In another defeat for the movement to Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) Israel, British diplomats attending the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland announced on Thursday that they had finalized their first post-Brexit deal free trade deal with the Jewish State. “I’m delighted that as Britain prepares to leave the European Union and to ensure continuity for our businesses in both directions, we’ve reached agreement in principle today with our colleagues in Israel,” Britain’s Secretary for International Trade Liam Fox as he stood next to Israel’s Economy Minister Eli Cohen.

Ireland’s parliament advanced legislation on Thursday which would criminalize the sale of goods or services originating beyond the borders Israel had previous to the 1967 Six Day War. In a letter to politicians, Paul Coulter of the ICEJ said, “As an Irish citizen who loves Israel and the Jewish people, I am both appalled and ashamed at this measure. Appalled at the bill’s thinly veiled antisemitism, and ashamed of my fellow countrymen who are promoting it. Criticism of Israel is not automatically antisemitic, but to uniquely single out Israel for criticism and boycott is.”

Senior officials in the Trump Administration in the US spoke on condition of anonymity to the Jerusalem Post this week, saying that the Administration’s so-called “Deal of the Century” plan for resolving the decades old conflict between Israel and the Palestinians shortly after Israel’s upcoming election on 9 April. “Longer is not our friend,” one official said. “It is hard for us to imagine a set of circumstances where the plan is never released. We have every intention of releasing it.”

The Syrian theater exemplifies Russo-Iranian cooperation, but there are other theaters in which Moscow and Tehran have cooperated for years. Their partnership in the South Caucasus and the energy-rich Caspian Sea area are examples of this trend. Taken together, these instances of Russo-Iranian cooperation fit into the pattern of “geopolitical chaos” across Eurasia in which Moscow and Tehran, as well as other regional powers, work together to challenge US dominance.

The Trump administration’s decision to pull U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan and the subsequent resignation of U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis has generated many questions about U.S. interests in the greater Middle East. The panel discussion will focus on the effect of these decisions on the conditions in Syria and Afghanistan, regional stability, and the consequences for U.S. national security.

3,000 years ago the Jewish King David established his capital in Jerusalem. It has never been the capital of any people group besides the Jews. Yet, in 1980, when Jerusalem was declared the capital of the reborn State of Israel, the Embassies of the world relocated to Tel Aviv. That’s when the ICEJ was born: to show Christian support for Israel’s sovereign claim to an undivided Jerusalem. Three decades later, that support is needed more than ever.