Israel’s defense leadership was taking credit for restoring quiet on the Gaza border Wednesday morning by retaliating strongly for the 180 rockets and mortars fired into the country from the Hamas-ruled Strip over the previous days. “The IDF launched a significant strike overnight in Gaza and we have acted responsibly, and since the morning the fire has stopped. Israel has delivered a message that if the fire resumes, the attacks on Hamas and the other groups will intensify,” an IDF spokesperson said.

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley issued a request Wednesday for the Security Council to convene and issue and official condemnation of Hamas and the other terror militias in the Gaza Strip launching indiscriminate rocket and mortar attacks against Israeli communities. “The Security Council should be outraged and respond to this latest bout of violence directed at innocent Israeli civilians, and the Palestinian leadership needs to be held accountable for what they’re allowing to happen in Gaza,” she said.

Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj issued a statement this week that his government will continue a trading relationship with Iran, including large daily purchases of oil and natural gas from the Islamic Republic, despite US sanctions. “We believe in UN sanctions, but not in country-specific sanctions,” she said. In related news, a group of religious leaders in the Central Asian country of Tajikistan issued a statement this week harshly criticizing Iran for interference in their country.

Conflicting reports coming out of southern Syria indicate that the Assad regime is, at the very least, taking a renewed interest in the area adjacent to the Israeli and Jordanian borders. The region was lost to the regime’s direct control several years ago, but the regime has declared its intention to re-take all territory while allied military commanders have threatened a new offensive to accomplish this, while rebel factions say there are no visible preparations for such an offensive.

The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovote was ranked among the top 50 degree-granting institutions in the world this week by the Center for World University Rankings, an NGO headquartered in the United Arab Emirates. Jerusalem’s Hebrew University was ranked 61st on the list while Tel Aviv University was ranked 85th, while several other Israeli institutions of higher learning were also ranked in the top 500.

Many claim that President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the US embassy there has increased violence and instability in the area. Four months after the decision, one can easily disprove this assertion.

Given the recent escalation between Iran and Israel in Syria and the development of a direct confrontation between them, the question of the Russian position arises: Is Russia trapped between hawkish factors and being forced, against its will, to position itself as a restraining force or can it benefit from an Israeli-Iranian confrontation, especially as it still controlled and limited? A panel of experts weighs in.

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In yesterday’s News bulletin it was reported that a rocket strike on a kindergarten in the Eshkol region was ineffective because the children had been moved to a shelter. This was incorrect, as the attack occurred early in the morning before the children were scheduled to arrive at the school. We apologize for any confusion this incorrect report caused among our readers.