The Hostages Held in Gaza – <br>And Israel’s Contradictory Impulses

Israeli hostages abducted by Hamas are handed over to the International Red Cross on November 24, 2023. Photo credit: via REUTERS.

There is nothing rational, let alone normative, about a situation where a terror group and its affiliates took 240 people hostage – toddlers and elderly people, children and women, young revelers abused and then abducted from a desert rave, as well as soldiers (both women and men) surprised in their bases. The numbers keep changing […]

Why is It So Difficult for Israel to Decipher Hamas?

Hamas militants. Photo credit: Shutterstock / Abed Rahim Khatib.

As they were marching towards Jerusalem, the knights of the First Crusade lay siege to the city of Antioch in southern Anatolia from October 1097 to June 1098. They were approached there by envoys of the Fatimid dynasty ruling Egypt, who offered the Crusaders a plan to cooperate against the Seljuk state then in possession […]

The Intelligence Failure of October 7 – Roots and Lessons

Hamas troops break down the Gaza border fence on October 7, allowing Gazans to cross into Israel. Photo credit: REUTERS.

Hamas’ sudden attack on the kibbutzim and the towns neighboring the Gaza Strip caught the IDF and the country by total surprise. During the first 24 hours, beginning at 6:30 in the morning of October 7, the Hamas Nukhba (name of the commando troops, means “elite”) and those who came in with them conquered and […]

The Hamas-Iran Relationship

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh meets with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, June 22, 2023. Photo credit: SalamPix/ABACA via Reuters Connect.

In the weeks since the Hamas massacre on October 7, pundits have debated whether or not Iran helped Hamas develop the plan for the terrorist assault and if Iran had foreknowledge of the attack. Citing a Hamas source, the Wall Street Journal reported that Iran helped plot the attack and that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard […]

Iran’s “Controlled Insurgency” against the US in Syria and Iraq

US soldiers in eastern Syria, 2019. Photo credit: ABACA via Reuters Connect.

In the immediate aftermath of Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7th and during Israel’s counter-offensive into Gaza, Iranian proxy militias in Iraq and Syria have escalated attacks on US positions in both countries. Fully 60 such attacks have taken place against US forces since October 7. 56 American personnel have suffered injuries in these attacks […]

Three Weeks of Ground War in Gaza

IDF troops in Gaza, Nov 12, 2023. Photo credit: EYEPRESS via Reuters Connect.

On Saturday, November 18, Israel’s war in Gaza reached its 43rd day and the ground offensive in Gaza has now reached its three-week mark. This war, Israel’s leaders say, is going to be long. But we are beginning to see the ground offensive reach a new phase. >> Reports from the Gaza Front: Read more from Seth […]

Biden’s Decision and the American Military Deployment

US President Biden delivers remarks as he visits Israel, October 18, 2023. Photo credit: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein.

The profound strategic implications of the American support for Israel in the war against Hamas – including a significant US military deployment to the region (two Carrier Strike Forces and an Ohio-class nuclear submarine, as well as air assets), albeit for the purpose of deterrence rather than participation in the fighting – will fully manifest […]