Paul Foer, JNS.org Tiny Bahrain consists mainly of a 34-mile island connected to Saudi Arabia by a causeway, but aside from having modest oil and gas reserves, a booming market-based economy and lots of tourism, it also happens to be the home of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet that patrols the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Red Sea. Bahrain’s strategic military location is complemented by its symbolically important place in the Arab world for a relatively liberal and tolerant society despite its …More

Israel’s ambassador to Australia was dressed down by government officials after being summoned over Jerusalem's decision to expand settlement construction. Yuval Rotem at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Tuesday was apprised of the federal government’s "grave concern" over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to prepare for the construction of 3,000 new homes between Jerusalem and the West Bank -- an area known as E1. Britain, France and other European countries on Monday …More

Jordan reportedly has appointed a new ambassador to Israel. The appointment late last week of career diplomat Walid Obeidat was reported by the French news service AFP and Ammon News. The position has been vacant since mid-2010, when Ali al-Ayed left to become the country's minister of media affairs. Jordan did not fill the position immediately, citing the lack of progress in peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, and Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. Obeidat is expected to arrive in Israel …More

The Hungarian Jewish Faith alliance filed an official complaint Tuesday on behalf of Hungarian actor Jozsef Szekhelyi, who was called a “filthy Jew” at a cultural board meeting in Eger. An audio recording of the slur, made last September by a politician from the right-wing Fidesz party, surfaced earlier this month. During the meeting, one of the participants said, “Just because everybody says that Szekhelyi is a filthy Jew... he is still a good actor who is fantastic at reciting [15th century …More

Ambassador Michael Oren has been on the move lately, visiting college campuses and communities in California, Michigan, Chicago and Boston. Israel Campus Beat caught up with him last week at the George Washington University in Washington, DC, after he addressed a crowd of students and community members. The New Jersey native, who earned degrees from Princeton and Columbia and has served in faculty positions at Harvard, Yale, Georgetown, the Hebrew University, and Tel Aviv University, has served as Israel's …More

The Egyptian parliament called for an expulsion of Israel’s ambassador to the country, in a unanimous vote on Monday. The move was made strictly to send a message, as the parliament does not have the ability to actually make such a decision. That power lies solely with the ruling military council. The action mirrors growing tensions between Egypt and the Israeli community, a split that has grown since the ousting of Hosni Mubarak last year. Mubarak had been a longtime ally of Israel during his 29-year …More

After a visit to a Galilee kibbutz that manufacturers armor for vehicles, US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro named Israel a strategic asset to the United States. "I just recently visited Kibbutz Sasa, the home of Plasan," Shapiro said at the IDC Herzliya Conference on Wednesday. "Plasan met the call to help protect American soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan when they were able to surge the production of up-armor kits for Humvees and for mine-resistant vehicles. These armor kits were critical in saving the …More

Mossad chief Tamir Pardo agrees with Israeli President Shimon Peres that Iran is not the greatest threat Israel had ever faced, reportedly telling a meeting of ambassadors that even if the country manufactures nuclear weapons, it wouldn’t necessarily be a threat to Israel’s existence. Pardo addressed about 100 Israeli ambassadors Tuesday evening. Three officials present at the briefing told Haaretz that the intelligence chief was confident in Israel’s ability to survive should its efforts to …More

Israeli President Shimon Peres lauded Israel’s nuclear ambiguity Sunday, claiming international uncertainty about the Jewish State’s capabilities will serve as a deterrent to Iran. At a Jerusalem conference of 160 Israeli ambassadors from around the world, Peres said, "Israel has 'real or fictitious' capabilities that could deter Iran.” Peres used the example of Israel’s nuclear reactor at Dimona. “No one knows what exactly is in Dimona,” Peres explained, “but I have to …More

British MP Paul Flynn has apologized after saying that Britain’s first Jewish ambassador to Israel had “divided loyalties.” Flynn said that he was sorry that “clumsily expressed remarks of mine have caused anger and upset.” "I greatly regret the interpretation that has been placed on them and I fully understand why offense was given," he told the Jewish Chronicle. "Some of the interpretations of these words were exaggerated suggesting malign intent that was never present or …More

President Barack Obama has rejected Republican demands that he fire the US ambassador to Belgium after he said that some anti-Semitism is rooted in the Middle East conflict. Ambassador Howard Gutman, the Jewish son of a Holocaust survivor, explained to a European Jewish Union conference the difference between “classic bigotry” and a new brand of anti-Semitism, which is linked to the conflict, and could be more easily resolved. GOP presidential frontrunners Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich headed the …More

The U.S. ambassador to Israel tweets in Hebrew. A generation ago, the latter part of that statement would have been as shocking as the first part would have been incomprehensible. The notion of an ambassador to Israel having a pre-existing affinity with the country, never mind fluency in its native tongue, was unimaginable. The U.S. State Department had a policy of not sending Jewish diplomats to the top post in Israel. The late Ezer Weizman, when he was Israel's defense minister in the late 1970s and early …More