Israel has successfully tested a system to intercept short-distance rockets and plans to deploy it later this year, defence ministry officials have said. The system is designed to stop incoming projectiles, such as the rockets fired at Israel by Palestinian militants in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. (more)

As the Obama administration presses Israel to cease settlement expansion as part of a renewed push for a Middle East peace deal—a course of action that many Israelis have interpreted as evidence of the president’s favoritism towards Palestinians—Israelis have increasingly focused their disappointment not on Obama, but rather on his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. (more)

This week President Obama got tougher with the mullahs — but not by much. He spoke of being “appalled and outraged” by their brutality, but also of “respect[ing] the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran and … not interfering with Iran’s affairs.” (more)

One weekend has seen the Middle Eastern landscape transformed – and the US president's critics are already circling... (more)

"For the first time in America's decades of jousting with Israel over West Bank settlements, an American president seems to have succeeded in isolating the settlements issue and disconnecting it from other elements of support for Israel," reports Haaretz. (more)

On the day Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to meet with President Obama, a new poll showed that just 31 percent of Israelis consider the Obama administration to be pro-Israel. This contrasts sharply with the 88 percent of respondents who called former President George W. Bush pro-Israel. (more)

The Washington Times reports that Barack Obama may counter demands from Israel to confront Iran over their nuclear program by confronting Israel over theirs. Eli Lake has the exclusive on the Obama administration’s strategy to force Israel under the umbrella of the non-proliferation treaty, apparently as a condition to getting Iran to surrender their nukes. The effort will include India and Pakistan, and comes from a 2006 Saudi peace plan that would leave Israel at the mercy of the armies surrounding t... (more)

In an exclusive interview with The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg Tuesday, just before he was sworn in as Israel's new prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu issued a bold statement -- that if Obama does not stop Iran's nuclear program, Israel most certainly will -- that seems to confirm his own hawkishness, as well as the fears of US Middle East policymakers who support a more delicate approach to the region (more)

JERUSALEM – Israeli President Shimon Peres has chosen hard-line Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu to form a new government. Friday's announcement means Netanyahu now has six weeks to put together a ruling coalition. The question is whether Netanyahu will form a narrow hard-line coalition government or a broad government along with his centrist rival, Kadima leader Tzipi Livni. (more)

Israeli President Shimon Peres admits he was wrong about withdrawing from Gaza. (more)