Avraham Mengistu, 28, crossed the border in September, Israeli officials say; 2nd captive not named; Israel says no talks on release taking place.

Clinton has sought to defend Obama in the face of criticism that he is not sufficiently supportive of Israel. But at the same time, she has suggested that if elected, she will take a different approach toward Netanyahu.

“From immigration to campaign finance reform to criminal justice, Hillary Clinton’s campaign strategy is clear: Move to Barack Obama’s left, to energize liberal voters. Except on Israel, where she’s moving to Barack Obama’s right, to energize hawkish donors,” Peter Beinart.

Billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s new campus operation to defend Israel has picked David Brog, the head of the largest Christian Zionist organization, as its first leader.

“As is so often the case, Israeli maximalism is doing the country no favors,” Michael Koplow writes.

Israel’s blockade of building materials for Gaza has created one of the highest levels of unemployment in the world and made it impossible for the small coastal enclave to recover from the war a year ago, aid agencies said on Wednesday.

On the anniversary of the Gaza war which killed 2,251 Palestinians and 73 Israelis and devastated the enclave still rebuilding from two previous wars, MEE spoke with two Palestinian women who wrote about the war as it unfolded around them last July.

A senior Hamas source claims that rumors about negotiations with Israel for a long-term truce are exaggerated, saying that the only issue seriously on the table is an exchange of Hamas prisoners and the bodies of two IDF soldiers.

Even as Israeli society seems locked into a centripetal trajectory, Ayman Odeh insists: Jews and Arabs need not be adversaries in a zero-sum game.

“Amid ongoing disputes between Fatah and Hamas, the fate of a new government still hangs in the balance,” writes Aziza Nofal.