Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS
Yaakov Lappin

Yaakov Lappin

Yaakov Lappin is an Israel-based military affairs correspondent and analyst. He is the in-house analyst at the Miryam Institute; a research associate at the Alma Research and Education Center; and a research associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University. He is a frequent guest commentator on international television news networks, including Sky News and i24 News. Lappin is the author of Virtual Caliphate: Exposing the Islamist State on the Internet. Follow him at: www.patreon.com/yaakovlappin.

For Israeli security personnel who guard the strategically significant Route 443, one of only two highways connecting Jerusalem to Israel’s coastal plain along the Mediterranean Sea, the difference between stopping contraband food or an armed terrorist isn’t very large.
The IDF is gearing up for a major relocation to southern Israel, where it plans to create new environs replete with academia and high-tech firms, and to give a significant boost to the Be’er Sheva area.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to India is occurring against the backdrop of a massive and still growing river of defense sales and technology transfers from Jerusalem to New Delhi.
Hamas finds itself in a “very uncomfortable situation in the event of a clash with Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and therefore, we are continuing to live in the unsolvable equation in Gaza,” said Prof. Uzi Rabi, a Middle East expert from Tel Aviv University.
“The Gaza Strip requires complex preparations, which begin three to four months in advance. Preparing to operate in Judea and Samaria is simpler than Gaza,” Maj. Nir Mor, deputy commander of the new unit, told JNS.
Hamas’s latest effort to join a Palestinian unity government is little more than a facade, and the terror group’s top immediate objective is to seize control of Judea and Samaria and turn it into a second Gaza, according to the assessments of defense experts.
Ever vigilant to the threat of Islamic State nearby, the IDF allowed civilians to visit a road that straddles the Israel-Egypt border in recent days for the Hanukkah holiday period.