The Takeaway: Would Hamas complicate US plans for reset with Palestinians? Also: the back story on the spat between Israel and Jordan; Gulf post-COVID economic trends; Turkey’s Kurds; Egypt and Somalia; and more! Originals
Egypt sentences activist Sanaa Seif to 18 months in prison Seif, who had been in pretrial detention since June, was convicted Wednesday of spreading false news and misusing social media. Egypt
Ukraine rejects Iran's final report on downed passenger plane The Iranian government said last year's shooting down of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was the result of a human error. Iran
Palestinians receive first batch of vaccines through COVAX More than 60,000 doses of the AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines arrived in Ramallah on Wednesday. Palestine
Bennett, Shaked call for military operation in West Bank HaBayit HaYehudi's Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked are hoping to score political points by calling for a wide-scale military operation in the West Bank despite security establishment assessments that a military response is not the answer to the current wave of attacks. Palestine
Pollard and Vanunu: A tale of two spies While criticizing the restrictions the US has imposed on released spy Jonathan Pollard and attempting to legislate state allocations for him, Israeli politicians ignore their government's restrictions on nuclear spy Mordechai Vanunu. Israel
Will the building of a Third Temple destroy the Jewish state? Talking to Al-Monitor, Israeli author Yishai Sarid argues that the people creating a Third Temple atmosphere believe they are avant-garde, above the people, but as a secular Jew, Sarid counters this and brings the debate to life in his recent book, "The Third." Israel
Despite budget approval, Netanyahu's coalition on shaky ground Despite getting the 2016 state budget approved, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is preoccupied with plots and deals in order to guarantee his political survival. Israel
Will Israel build offshore nuclear power plant? While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promotes the outline for the natural gas resource and benefits distribution, several experts promote the idea of offshore gas and civil nuclear energy plants. Israel
Will Putin, Khamenei negotiate Assad's ouster? Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as they reaffirmed their agreement that the United States is wrong to try to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Syria
Sudan gets $2.2B for joining Saudi Arabia, Qatar in Yemen war After providing financial support, Saudi Arabia is collecting on its IOU from Sudan, which now finds itself enmeshed in Yemen's civil war. Saudi Arabia
Peshmerga general: KRG political problems won't affect fight against IS A Kurdish general calls for more ammunition, aid and NATO troops to join the peshmerga in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraqi Kurdistan. Iraq
Do Iranian hard-liners really want to stop foreign investment? Despite criticism and warnings of "infiltration" in the aftermath of the nuclear deal, are Iranian hard-liners really opposed to foreign investment? Iran
Why do some Turks approve of Islamic State terrorism? Turkish football fans' disruption of moments of silence for victims of Islamic State attacks in Paris and in Turkey show support for IS and stem from the domestic and foreign policies of Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Syria
How some southeast Turkey residents are struggling with mystery murders, urban warfare Residents in the southeastern Turkish town of Silvan are angry with the state and the Kurdistan Workers Party for the destruction of their town. Turkey
Women were big losers in Turkey's elections The number of women elected to parliament reached a new high in Turkey's June elections, but dropped in the Nov. 1 snap elections, especially in the victorious Justice and Development Party. Turkey
