Israel has protested to the presidency of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague against the judges sitting in a pretrial chamber handling Palestinian lawsuits against Israel over the 2014 Gaza war and the construction of settlements in the West Bank.
Between the lines: Israeli officials told me the reason for the protest was an unprecedented decision by the judges to initiate a call for "victims of the situation in Palestine" to contact the court and submit information.
Iran’s Minister of Defense unveiled a new short-range ballistic missile called the Fateh Mobin, or “manifest conqueror,” on Monday. Initially designed for surface-to-surface combat, the Fateh missiles have been upgraded several times and include anti-ship variants. Select Iranian outlets carried video of the missile’s launch, but did not provide the launch date or the missile’s payload and range specifications.
The big picture: There has been a lull in highly publicized Iranian ballistic missile launches, and flight-testing of one particular category — nuclear-capable medium-range ballistic missiles — has fallen in the past year and half. But it would be a mistake to assume Iran’s recent risk aversion would last.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi held a secret summit in Egypt on May 22nd to launch efforts toward a Gaza stabilization deal, U.S. officials told me.
Why it matters: This meeting was pivotal in the Egyptian-led efforts over the last three months to reach a deal between Israel, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority on stabilizing Gaza. The Egyptians updated the Trump administration about their efforts and got the backing of the White House.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in will travel to Pyongyang in September to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, reports the AP.
Why it matters: Despite the easing of tensions between the rival Koreas, Kim Jong-un has refused to provide documents related to his country's nuclear weapons, stalling any further progress in talks between North Korea and the United States.
On a White House conference call with Iran experts last week, a senior administration official said the Trump administration will reimpose sanctions on financial messaging services later this year. That might sound boring. But the administration official was referring to what could soon become another major fight between the Trump administration and Europe.
Why this matters: In the context of Iran sanctions, "financial messaging services" refers to SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) — a linchpin of the global financial system that facilitates payments across borders and connects more than 11,000 banks around the world.
