Closer US – Hungary Military Cooperation is Good for Both Countries

President Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Photo credit: REUTERS/Carlos Barria.

Hungary and the United States have been allies since Hungary joined NATO in 1999. President Donald Trump’s reelection augurs well for closer ties on defense policy. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán visited Trump during the election campaign and called him “the man who can save the Western world.” Trump, in return, has said “there’s nobody that’s […]

Israel has No Genocidal Intent and is not Committing Genocide in Gaza

Photo credit: REUTERS.

In Gaza, a brutal war is being fought against a still-active enemy whose sole purpose (as demonstrated on  October 7, 2023) remains the elimination of Israel. At the same time, an information war is being waged in the West, using accusations of “genocide” against Israel as a tool, including by scholars who should know better. […]

How to Finance Ukraine’s Defense Industry

A Ukraine-made GARA UAV for aerial reconnaissance in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, May 2025. Photo credit: Dmytro Smolienko via Reuters Connect.

At this year’s Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome, all eyes were on the country’s fast-growing defense-technology sector. With Kyiv now in its fourth year of war with Russia, Ukraine’s home-grown firms urgently need fresh capital – public, private, and blended – to offset gaps in allied arms deliveries and anchor Ukraine’s long-term recovery.  Longstanding prohibitions […]

How a Bad Deal in the Indian Ocean Undermines the West

Protest against the UK handover of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, June 2025. Photo credit: ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect.

On May 22, the UK government of Labour’s Keir Starmer signed a treaty with the island nation of Mauritius, a former British colony in the Indian Ocean, to cede sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, a seven-atoll archipelago that includes the Diego Garcia military base. Though the deal contains protections for this base, it also raises […]

Lessons of the Middle East War

Photo credit: REUTERS/Amir Cohen.

All wars teach lessons. The war that began with the murderous assault on southern Israel by the governing organization of Gaza, Hamas, on October 7, 2023, and ended – at least for now — on June 22, 2025 with the American bombing of three major parts of the Iranian nuclear weapons program, demonstrates the importance […]

Thoughts from the Safe Room on the New Map of the Middle East

Iranian missiles intercepted over Tel Aviv, June 16, 2025. Photo credit: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun.

Every modern apartment in Israel comes with a safe room hardened to survive a missile or rocket hit. In 2022 I moved to Jerusalem, bought an apartment, and placed my library in the safe room. Thus, I had plenty of resources to consult in the safe room during the recent Iranian missile attacks. Here are […]

The Punitive Expedition Against the Houthis

Houthi supporters burn Israeli and US flags in Sanaa, Yemen, June 20, 2025. Photo credit: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah.

In 55 BCE, Julius Caesar decided (according to his Commentaries) to “cross the Rhine since he saw the Germans were so easily urged to go into Gaul, he desired they should have fears for their own territories when they discovered that the army of the Roman people both could and dared pass the Rhine.”  This […]

Mr. President, the Time to Strike Is Now

Photo credit: IMAGO/Hanno Bode via Reuters Connect.

President Trump, I write to you not with hesitation but with urgency. Your leadership transformed the Middle East. The Abraham Accords, your firm support for Israel, and your uncompromising stance toward terror made peace possible when many believed it was impossible. You did not follow the tired formulas of appeasement. You lead with principle and […]

What Led to the Strike Against Iran’s Nuclear Project?

Israeli Air Force fighter jets taking off for Iran on June 13, 2025. Photo credit: EYEPRESS via Reuters Connect.

On June 9, the Government of Israel decided on an extensive military operation, begun at three in the morning on Friday June 13, against Iran’s nuclear facilities, military leadership and ballistic missile infrastructure. Leading to this decision were a threat perception, which has been growing for decades, a window of opportunity, which opened in autumn […]

The IDF in Gaza: “Gideon’s Chariots” Making Slow Progress

Israeli soldiers walk out from a tunnel underneath the European Hospital in Khan Younis, June 8, 2025. Photo credit: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun.

The Israel Defense Forces have been on the offensive in Gaza since March 18. This offensive faces the same challenges the IDF encountered throughout 2024. Israeli commanders appear reticent to enter some key urban areas in Gaza, including the Central Camps area of Gaza. This may be due, inter alia, to concerns that hostages are […]