“Rep. Peter Roskam is quite eloquent about the need for the U.S. to help defend Israel against threats to its very existence (“Congress Can Fight the Boycott Israel Movement,” op-ed, May 26). On that point, we agree,” write Mitchell Plitnick and Matt Duss. “However, the legislation that he has worked to create in Congress not only fails to protect Israel, it threatens to undermine Israel’s legitimacy and hopes for peace.”

“The Obama administration is seen as no great friend of Netanyahu’s government. But behind the scenes at the U.N., the United States is working hard to protect it,” writes Colum Lynch.

The United States has not yet made a decision on what actions it will take regarding a UN resolution being worked on by France that would set a timetable for an Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said on Monday.

In an interview with the Israeli television station Channel 2, Obama doubled down on his criticism of Netanyahu and refused to take the prospect of greater U.N. involvement off the table.

“When David Axelrod, then a senior adviser to President Barack Obama, first learned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly had referred to him and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel as ‘self-hating Jews,’ he remembers feeling stung,” writes Ron Kampeas.

Nearly 60 percent of the 96 Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank do not lead to Israel, but rather separate Palestinian cities and towns. Sometimes, checkpoints pop up in response to security incidents, other times there is no explanation at all.

“The IDF is developing new technology that will eventually cut down on the need for soldiers to go to the front lines. What does this mean for the Palestinians whose lives will hang on the decision of a machine?” asks Natasha Roth.

“Hunger strikes by Palestinian detainees are sweeping Israeli prisons in protest of what looks like a pattern of abusive administrative detention rulings,” writes Ahmad Melhem

The notorious Qalandia military checkpoint erected by the Israeli army to separate the West Bank from Jerusalem has drawn an infamous reputation over the past 14 years because of the daily suffering it brings to thousands of Palestinians who have to pass through it for work, education or to visit their families.

Jewish Israeli teens are becoming increasingly polarized in their political beliefs, with more than half identifying as politically right-wing and less than 30 percent willing to condemn attacks against Arabs, according to a poll published Tuesday.

Will the new forum of 10 top ministers be capable of defying the generals, resisting the PM, and ensuring Israel is steered effectively in war?

“Last Wednesday, the Huffington Post published a column co-authored by Trita Parsi and Paul Pillar, president of the National Iranian American Council and Senior Fellow at the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University, respectively. ‘There are signs Israel may be at war again this summer …with Hezbollah in Lebanon,’ they warned. This is an intriguing thesis, but it’s not really convincing,” writes Aurelie Daher.

“Fatah and Hamas continue to trade barbs over responsibility for delay in implementing unity agreement,” writes Dalia Hatuqa.

A local Salafist leader was shot dead in Gaza City on Tuesday during a confrontation with Hamas police and security officials who went to arrest him, the Hamas-run Interior Ministry said, as tensions between Hamas and Islamic State supporters in the Strip ramp up.