Military assessments clearly show that future skirmishes between Israel and Iran will grow more volatile. But Israel will have to deal with Gaza eventually and when it does, it would do well to remember that a considered response is always better than a knee jerk reaction.

Most Israelis want to live in a country where Judaism has meaning, but do not want too many limits to their freedom of choice. Politicians must strike coalition agreements that keep this in mind.

In apparent policy shift, Hezbollah follows through on leader Hassan Nasrallah's warning to protect Lebanese airspace, firing one missile at a small Israeli drone, which missed the target. Several reports – including in Israel – identify the projectile as a light-weight, shoulder-fired "Strela" missile, but Nasrallah hints it could have been a Soviet-era SA-8 or SA-17, which the group has thus far refrained from using.

The Palestinian refugee agency's mandate is up for review and UN Secretary General Guterres seems willing to listen to the critics of its anti-Israel policy. Will UNRWA undergo real reform?

Writings of 20th-century Jewish writer Franz Kafka delivered this summer to the National Library of Israel include his correspondence with language teachers in Israel.