Excessive regulation, rising food prices, high taxes, and government waste threaten the stability of Israel’s economy. Yair Lapid, the outgoing Treasury Minister, rode into office promising to ameliorate these problems; instead, he wasted political capital on reforms that could not make it through the Knesset, accomplished little, or were simply counterproductive—leaving the Israeli economy in worse condition, according to Shoham Wexler, than it was two years ago:

Since the year began, the IDF has stepped up its attacks on Iranian positions in Syria, striking more targets and going deeper into Syrian territory than usual. Meanwhile, Tehran has increased its enrichment of uranium, moving ever closer to building nuclear weapons. Efraim Inbar addresses the situation in depth: