Netanyahu’s Speech to Congress Will Be About More Than Bashing Biden

Photo credit: Douliery Olivier/ABACA via Reuters Connect.

Benjamin Netanyahu was scheduled to address a joint session of the United States Congress on June 13. But that day, while an ordinary day in Israel, was the second day of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot in the United States and the rest of the Diaspora. Jews in the Diaspora traditionally celebrate the beginning and […]

The Only Path to Peace is Prosperity, Not Hamas

Photo credit: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address a joint session of Congress on July 24 at what promises to be an historic and controversial moment. Netanyahu’s speech allows him to “share the Israeli government’s vision to defend its democracy, combat terrorism and establish a just and lasting peace in the region,” said House Speaker Mike […]

Israel and the World After October 7 – An Interview with Bernard-Henri Lévy

Bernard-Henri Lévy

ParisThere are few men who feel the pain of distant upheavals as acutely as Bernard-Henri Lévy, 75, a French philosopher, filmmaker and public intellectual. Born to a wealthy Sephardic family in French Algeria, he cut his teeth as an international activist in his support for the war of secession against Pakistan by the erstwhile East […]

Iran Enters the Sudanese Civil War

A street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the civil war in Sudan. Photo credit: REUTERS.

Iran may be about to lose its ally Hamas, which Israel seeks to defeat. But is it also about to gain a new partner, Sudan, on the western side of the Red Sea?  Here we go again in Sudan. For decades the country experienced civil war and famine, triggered by religious conflicts and struggles for power […]

Iran’s Attack Requires a Broad Response

Israel's Arrow 3 interceptors operate against long-range Iranian missiles over the city of Ashkelon, Israel in the early morning hours of April 14, 2024. Photo credit: REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Iran’s attack on Israel, with more than 170 drones and 120 ballistic missiles, was the largest that Tehran has ever launched against the Hebrew state.  Previously, Iran used proxy forces, including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Houthi rebels in Yemen, to rain down rockets on Israeli homes and ships. Now, Iran is attacking directly and striking at well […]

Rafah: Is a Common Israeli-American Approach Possible?

Palestinians during Ramadan in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, March 2024. Photo credit: REUTERS/Mohammed Salem.

The final major combat phase of the Gaza war, an Israeli attack on remaining organized Hamas forces in Rafah, is approaching. It was delayed due to the humanitarian crisis impacting the Gaza population and negotiations over a limited pause in fighting for release of Israeli hostages. But the “how” of the Israeli operation has produced […]

After Two Years of War: <Br> The West’s Strategic Choice in Ukraine

Ukrainian President Zelensky meets with US President Biden at the White House, September 2023. Photo credit: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque.

With support from Europe, the United States, and others, Ukraine has held off – and in part, beaten back – Russia’s campaign of conquest and subjugation. But Ukraine has not won, Putin seems determined to fight on, and the West seems beset by doubts as to whether continuing to back Ukraine is practical or worth […]

Israel’s Best Friend Ever

Photo credit: Jovanny Hernandez / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Reuters Connect.

President Joe Biden’s poll numbers are in freefall. A December 14 Pew poll found that only one-third of respondents approve of his job performance, the lowest such result since he took office. Moreover, his approval ratings even among Democrats plunged twelve percentage points since October 2022.  >> Window on Washington: Read more from Dov S. Zakheim […]

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 […]