Israeli President Reuven Rivlin announced on Wednesday evening that incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would receive the first opportunity to form a governing coalition following last weeks elections. The deadline is 24 October, but Netanyahu said he would like to conclude negotiations quickly in light of the ongoing regional crisis and the soon-to-be-unveiled “Deal of the Century” plan by the Trump Administration. In a sign that the coalition might come sooner rather than later, Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman announced on Thursday morning that he was indeed ready to negotiate with Netanyahu “without preconditions” and that he wouldn’t negotiate with Blue and White at this time.

U.S. President Donald Trump authorized the State Department to issue travel bans on senior Iranian officials and family members from entering the United States as immigrants or nonimmigrants, declaring that the clerical regime in Teheran is engaging in conduct that “threatens peace and stability in the Middle East and beyond.” The largely symbolic act followed a speech at the UN General Assembly in which Iranian President Hassan Rohani accused the US of, among other things, “merciless economic terrorism.”

The movement to Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) Israel suffered another defeat this week when Tzipi Livni, former foreign minister deputy prime minister, was announced to be a 2019 Fisher Family Fellow at the Future of Diplomacy Project at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. “I’m happy for the opportunity that was given to me to share my experience as a decision-maker in the Israeli cabinet and as chief negotiator for peace with the students at Harvard Kennedy School,” Livni told The Jerusalem Post.

History was made this week when Lt.-Col. G (full name withheld for security reasons by the IDF) became the first female to command an aviation squadron in the Israel Air Force, specifically the 122 squadron, a field intelligence unit including reconnaissance aircraft, based out of the Nevatim Airbase south of Tel Aviv. “Congratulations to our first female commander of an operational squadron in the Air Force – we’ve been waiting for you for 71 years,” IAF Cmdr. Maj.-Gen. Amikam Norkin said at the ceremony on Tuesday night. “Lt. Col. G, the mother of two boys, you are a role model and an inspiration for thousands of women in the State of Israel.”

Israeli security forces arrested the Palestinian Authority’s minister for Jerusalem affairs, Fadi al-Hadmi in an early Wednesday morning raid on his eastern Jerusalem home, shortly after a similar arrest raid on the home of PA governor for Jerusalem Adnan Ghaith. Ghaith avoided the arrest attempt as he was not home at the time, later telling journalists that “Due to Israeli laws, our activities in Jerusalem are considered as interfering with Israeli sovereignty there, which violates all international understandings and resolutions regarding Jerusalem. Israel won’t allow any [official] Palestinian presence in Jerusalem, and we [the PA] represent the Palestinians there.”

Smokescreening, the false pretense of friendship toward Israel, is a common practice. Practitioners include US Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, former US president Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and German FM Heiko Maas. There is also a mirror phenomenon in which Israeli leaders identify smokescreeners as friends, as when Israeli president Reuven Rivlin called German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier a “true friend of Israel.”

In September 2015, Moscow made its first push outside former Soviet borders when it authorized airstrikes in Syria. More pertinently, the move—and Russia’s broader intervention in Syria—constituted a step toward reshaping the whole regional balance of power, taking advantage of a diminishing U.S. footprint. According to the Russian defense minister, the military has since learned to fight in an entirely new way. Establishing long-term bases on Syria’s Mediterranean coast has made the Kremlin’s regional bid more credible still, and arms sales are fortifying its position.

“Speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her, that her warfare has ended …..” Isaiah 40:2. For over thirty years the ICEJ has embarked upon a journey of giving comfort to Israel. This journey has involved deeds and compassion, and every town, village and city has been impacted, in some way, by our benevolence ministry that has helped the poor, healed the sick, housed the lonely, encouraged the children, and cared for the elderly. As Israel moves steadily but surely to her God-given destiny, we are determined to “stay the course” with her.