Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

Yoni Ben Menachem

Yoni Ben Menachem, a veteran Arab affairs and diplomatic commentator for Israel Radio and Television, is a senior Middle East analyst for the Jerusalem Center. He served as director general and chief editor of the Israel Broadcasting Authority.

An unbending Israeli policy in eastern Jerusalem will show the Palestinians and Jordan that the Jewish State is determined to exercise its sovereignty over all parts of the city.
The Palestinian Authority’s political weakness and lack of leadership regarding the U.S. peace plan demonstrate the degree to which corruption and the P.A.’s financial crisis have undermined its authority.
The U.S. senior presidential adviser simply stated what many Arab leaders, all too familiar with Abbas’s decadent, corrupt government, believe but do not dare say.
Hamas is reportedly worried about the sophisticated methods used by Israel to recruit agents and collaborators in the Gaza Strip, without the agents even knowing they’ve been recruited.
The Gulf states no longer fear normalization with Israel, and are promoting it in a slow process in tandem with the crafting of President Trump’s “deal of the century.”
Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas’s stubbornness forces the Palestinians to get used to any new situation imposed upon them by the Trump administration and Israel.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights reported that demonstrations took place in the Jabalya, Al-Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps, and in the cities of Khan Yunis and Rafah, and that they were forcibly dispersed by Hamas security forces.
Indications on the ground suggest that Israel has come to terms with Jordan’s efforts, and it does not intend to close the “Gate of Mercy” compound, which was shut for 16 years.
The new Muslim Waqf council on the Temple Mount intends to revamp the Golden Gate (Sha’ar HaRachmim, or “Gate of Mercy”), and use it as a place of prayer.
Jordan and the Palestinian Authority have set up a joint council to administer the Temple Mount and the Jerusalem holy places as a preparatory step towards scuttling the Trump administration’s Mideast peace plan.
Hassan Nasrallah is trying to “construct” a new policy of deterrence to cover up Israel’s revelation of the organization’s invasion tunnels.
Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani is trying to launch a war of attrition against Israel from inside Syrian territory, copying the Gazan model.