An Israeli organization called V15 has been conducting a vigorous “Anyone but Netanyahu” campaign in advance of the March elections—while being careful not to endorse any particular alternative candidate. Adi Ben Hur examines V15’s organizers and sources of funding, and concludes that something is amiss:

[D]espite the strident denials, the people behind [the V15] campaign are a long list of known Labor activists. They understand that Labor’s uncharismatic leader, Isaac Herzog, can’t do the job alone, and so they’ve decided to lend a hand. V15 is funded by the resource-rich One Voice, which is based in the U.S., where it’s known as the Peace Network Foundation, supported by a holding company known as Peaceworks, which is run by a businessman named Daniel Lubetzky. The organization is defined as an “international organization” whose goal is “solving” the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. . . .

Even if all this activity is technically legal, it’s still very problematic. What makes it worse is the massive funding from foreign governments. Democracy means rule by the people, and the intervention of foreign countries is nothing short of subversion. . . . Christina Taylor, in charge of grants to One Voice in the U.S., said . . . that One Voice had received two grants from the U.S. State Department in 2014. Taylor claimed that the money was not meant to assist intervening in Israeli elections. The present heightened activity and presence of V15 in elections makes this disavowal dubious, to say the least.

In addition, the list of “partners” to One Voice on the English website includes the European Union, the U.S. State Department, and the British Labor and Conservative parties. Strangely, none of these last appears on the Hebrew-language website.

Concluded in 1979, the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty ended nearly 30 years of intermittent warfare, and proved one of the most enduring and beneficial products of Middle East diplomacy. But Egypt may not have been upholding its end of the bargain, write Jonathan Schanzer and Mariam Wahba:

Article III, subsection two of the peace agreement’s preamble explicitly requires both parties “to ensure that that acts or threats of belligerency, hostility, or violence do not originate from and are not committed from within its territory.” This clause also mandates both parties to hold accountable any perpetrators of such acts.

Recent Israeli operations along the Philadelphi Corridor, the narrow strip of land bordering Egypt and Gaza, have uncovered multiple tunnels and access points used by Hamas—some in plain sight of Egyptian guard towers. While it could be argued that Egypt has lacked the capacity to tackle this problem, it is equally plausible that it lacks the will. Either way, it’s a serious problem.

Was Egypt motivated by money, amidst a steep and protracted economic decline in recent years? Did Cairo get paid off by Hamas, or its wealthy patron, Qatar? Did the Iranians play a role? Was Egypt threatened with violence and unrest by the Sinai’s Bedouin Union of Tribes, who are the primary profiteers of smuggling, if it did not allow the tunnels to operate? Or did the Sisi regime take part in this operation because of an ideological hatred of Israel?