Aluf Benn

Benjamin Netanyahu is no different than his predecessors; he delays decisions on the two central issues on his table: countering the Iranian threat and the future of the West Bank.

Israel needs a border that will delineate its borders, normalize its international status, end the dissent over the settlements and solidify the national consensus.

The occupation did not transform us into law-breaking criminals, it only taught us that it's best to be on the stronger side.

It's perfectly possible that Netanyahu will present a peace plan by the newly announced target date.

We must apply the lessons of the fifty-year old Lavon Affair: There can be no cover-ups, because they corrode the government.

IDF leaders are once again revealing a lack of sophistication, dismissiveness toward the enemy and obsession with image and spin, which so often have resulted in inquiries and humiliation.

Like many pioneering and protest movements before it, the settlement movement has gradually become a political-economic lobby that aims to leverage its political strength to suck money and land from the state.

President Barack Obama's campaign of wooing Israel reflects a fundamental about-face in U.S. policy in the Middle East. U.S. priorities have changed: At the top are the intensifying problem of Iran and concerns about the change of leadership in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

First of all, by easing the blockade of Gaza after the flotilla incident, Israel admitted in retrospect that its previous policy was wrong. No international commission will justify the blockade after Netanyahu has renounced it.

Instead of citing hostile statements from the archives of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Netanyahu needs to present Obama with a practical proposal that can be neatly packaged and marketed.

A constitution that decides fundamental questions of national identity will cause internal divisions, especially in the current political climate, in which the right is trying to crush the Arab community's power.

Since Erdogan is striving for pan-Islamism and Netanyahu is trying to hold off the rest of the world while nurturing a Jewish Israeliness that hates minorities and foreigners, the clash was inevitable.

The attempt to control Gaza from outside, via its residents' diet and shopping lists, casts a heavy moral stain on Israel and increases its international isolation.

Both Obama and Netanyahu understand that Israel's most important ally in the Middle East is Egypt, and they are doing everything possible to keep it that way.

The gist of Obama's demand is to freeze East Jerusalem construction and the numbers of Jews moving there.

Governments which would like to whitewash their involvement in failed wars often target the press.

The Prime Minister's political partners are thriving in his weakness and stripping him bare.

Netanyahu and Obama are like heroes in a Greek tragedy, waiting for the inevitable confrontation.

The key issue in public debate today centers on Israel's national identity: how to strike the right balance between the components of "a Jewish and democratic state," and the past and future.

If diplomacy fails, Netanyahu and Obama will either call their bluff or act upon their heated statements.

PM's box of tricks is running out, as world loses trust over Dubai killing and Fayyad joins Bil'in protest.