The Islamic State (IS) terror militia suffered a series of harsh defeats this week, culminating on Thursday with Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi announcing that troops loyal to his regime had captured the ruins of the Grand Al-Nuri Mosque in Mosul, three years to the day after IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the resurrected “caliphate” there. This followed announcements by Russia and Iran that al-Baghdadi himself was most likely killed in recent fighting, although those reports have not yet been independently confirmed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told a group of visiting officials from the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Thursday that recent decisions to freeze plans for an “egalitarian” section of prayer at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City and give authority for conversions to the Chief Rabbinate had been painful for him but necessary to preserve his governing coalition. Sources familiar with the meetings also told Israeli media outlets that Netanyahu said he is aware of the strains the situation is causing between Israel and American Jewish communities but he is striving to find ways to alleviate that stress and find a compromise everyone can live with.

Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert will be released from Ma’asiyahu Prison in Ramle on Sunday morning following a decision by the parole board to cut short his 27-month sentence which he received after being convicted on various charges of corruption stemming from his time as Mayor of Jerusalem in the 1990s. His family issued a statement saying he’d seek a full pardon from President Reuven Rivlin, work with his doctor on restoring his weakened health and promote his autobiography, which he wrote while in prison and which is scheduled to be released ahead of the Rosh Hashanah holiday.

Saeb Erekat, secretary- general of the PLO, gave a keynote address Thursday at the “UN Forum Marking 50 Years of Occupation” during which he said, among other things, that “Hamas and the PFLP are not terrorist organizations,” in response to a question from a reporter about why those organizations, which have been designated as terrorist organizations by a plurality of world governments, were being allowed to participate in a UN-sponsored event.

The General Assembly of the US State of North Carolina passed legislation Wednesday that would impose punitive measures on entities that participate in the campaign to Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) Israel. If Governor Roy Cooper signs the bill into law, North Carolina will become the 22nd US State to enact such legislation.

In recent years, the Middle East has been an important theater for violent friction between the global and regional powers seeking to enhance their influence in the region. The campaign against the Islamic State in particular and against terrorism in general is also part of the competition between them, and is waged in the framework of their efforts to promote their respective particular interests.

Unfortunately, it’s very common in political discussions by pundits and commentators today to say “Israel must withdraw to the 1967 borders.” There’s only one problem with that analysis: there are no 1967 borders. The lines Israel inherited from the 1948 war are called armistice lines. They’re very different from international boundaries that exist elsewhere in the world.