The Hostages

A protest in support of the hostages in Gaza, Tel Aviv, Israel, September 4, 2024. Photo credit: REUTERS/Florion Goga.

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

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

Photos: REUTERS/Jonathan Drake, Shutterstock.

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

Photo credit: Beata Zawrzel via Reuters Connect.

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

Photo credit: REUTERS/Nathan Howard.

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 […]

America the Unprepared

The principal product of Washington D.C. is words. They come in three different kinds of packages: memoranda, by which government departments and organizations communicate internally; op-ed articles, by which these various groups communicate with each other and the public; and reports, usually compiled under the auspices of people with expertise in the subject being addressed. […]

Global Dimensions of the Russo-Ukrainian War

The Russo-Ukrainian War is a grand battle about both the future of Europe and the principle of inviolability of borders. In addition, the war’s course and outcome can accelerate, contain or reverse broader political, social and ideological trends across the globe. Stabilizing the International Order A Ukrainian victory would lead to a stabilization of the […]

Who was Ismail Haniyeh?

Ismail Haniyeh. Photo credit: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS.

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 […]