For any driver who’s ever skidded on ice or gotten mired in mud, Israel Zahavi’s new invention may be just the ticket.

Power Wheel is a removable disc that fits inside the vehicles tires. Inside are twenty metal bars (steel-tipped for off-road vehicles and rubber-tipped for cars to protect asphalt) that can be manually or automatically telescoped out beyond the circumference of the tire to raise the vehicle slightly and grip the road.

When you’re clear of the trouble spot you can then retract the bars into the disc.

Continue reading at Israel21c.

Hamas is planning to establish a military academy in the Gaza Strip for training and educating schoolchildren.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh announced Thursday that the new military academy, the first of its kind in the Gaza Strip, would prepare the children for the “phase of liberating Palestine.”

Continue reading at the Jerusalem Post.

I recently returned from meeting in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and in Afghanistan with U.S. generals and troops in the field. The discussions touched on some common themes: supporting Israel, America’s strongest ally in the region, and protecting U.S. interests in the Middle East.

These talks have reinforced my understanding of the tremendous challenges the next secretary of defense will face on a range of national-security issues. Strong leadership and sound judgment will be required day in and day out.

Since Chuck Hagel, a former Republican senator, was nominated to be the next defense secretary, there is new attention on his many controversial statements. One of them, his remark that “the Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people” on Capitol Hill, I found to be particularly offensive and wrong.

Continue reading at the Wall Street Journal.