The Hostages
There are two sets of hostages in Gaza and both require American leadership to be free. Less than two weeks after their emotional address at the Democratic National Convention on behalf of their son, the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin were told that he was found dead in a tunnel below Rafah. Hersh was one of […]
Interview with Gadi Taub
Gadi Taub: I believed in Oslo [the 1990s Palestinian-Israeli peace process] because I imagined the Palestinians to be like us. I imagined their national liberation movement to be a national liberation movement just like ours. Then reality just exploded outside my window. Tel Aviv is small. So from where I lived back then, when a […]
Interview with Shadow Fatah Leader Samer Sinijlawi
Ksenia Svetlova: You see how time and again people in the West Bank and in Gaza, even more so in the West Bank than in Gaza, say yes, we support Hamas. Samer Sinijlawi: I would not rely on polls very much during these days, not to test the feelings of the Palestinians and not to […]
Out of Division, Strength
In the tumult that always accompanies a US presidential election – with each side fearing the end of “democracy” or “America” if the other side prevails – some Americans have lost sight of what admirers see clearly from afar: A remarkable, resilient country on which turns the hopes and inspirations of the world. Every US presidential election is billed as “the most consequential […]
Turkey’s Threat to Block NATO Cooperation with Israel
On July 12, at the NATO summit in Washington, Turkey threatened to take steps to exclude Israel from all cooperation with NATO. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that “until comprehensive, sustainable peace is established in Palestine, attempts at cooperation with Israel within NATO will not be approved by Turkey.” This threat should be challenged by […]
What to Expect from a Harris Administration on Israel-Palestine and the Middle East
Should she beat Donald Trump in this November’s election, Kamala Harris would come into office with more foreign policy experience than most presidents. As vice president, she made 17 foreign trips, giving a high-profile speech at the Munich Security Conference and leading the US delegation to the 2023 climate summit in Dubai. She has met […]
Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran – How Should Israel Prioritize Enemy Arenas?
Israel faces a strategic dilemma regarding prioritization of the multiple arenas of attacks it faces across the region: Can it continue to prioritize Gaza while maintaining the current low tempo of operations in Lebanon and preparing for responses from Iran? In Gaza, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has made significant progress since the Hamas invasion […]
Who was Ismail Haniyeh?
The first and the only time I interviewed Ismail Haniyeh, the late head of Hamas’ political bureau, was in January 2006 in Gaza, on the day of the fateful elections for the Palestinian parliament, shortly after exit poll results were published. Like every other member of Hamas, Haniyeh was overwhelmed by this unexpected victory. Hamas […]
Higher Education and American National Security
Higher education has become a national security risk, for the present and for the long term: this is the lesson of the aftermath of October 7 on campus. Contemporary great power competition is taking place in many arenas, especially in the dimension of technological innovation. Leading research universities play a vital role in this race. […]
Planning for Postwar Gaza: Lessons from Kosovo
As the war in Gaza drags on, so do efforts to identify a model for postwar governance and security. The experience of Kosovo following NATO’s 1999 expulsion of Serbian forces may offer some lessons. A Brief History Refresher In March 1999, in the wake of a growing Kosovo Liberation Army insurgency, an upturn in Serbian […]
