This piece focuses on votes at the UN General Assembly. Later pieces in this series will cover African voting at UNESCO and the UN Human Rights Council. Read the first in the series for an overview of Israel-Africa ties.
The decision to drop charges against Pastor Brunson and let him go home was strictly a judicial determination, says the Turkish government, but anyone familiar with Turkish President Erdogan's efforts in recent years to bend the judges to his party's will is entitled to accept this elegant claim cum grano salis, indeed, with a larger than usual grain of salt.
Syria and Iran are entwined tighter than an intricately woven Persian carpet. Unless Syrian President Bashar Assad has a change of heart and decides to expel Iranian forces, his most treasured foreign guests are staying.
Deepening ties with a land that has been home to Jews for two millennia, an AJC leadership delegation concluded a weeklong visit to Morocco that included consultations with senior government officials, Jewish community leaders, and civil society partners – and a series of lectures, roundtables and special events in three cities that focused on advancing Muslim-Jewish understanding.
A pattern of improved relations with almost all the Gulf states is emerging, backed by occasional statements by senior officials and a much livelier debate than ever in the local media about the legitimacy of Israel's presence as a player in the region.