The Battle for Gaza City
Gaza City, one of the last two Hamas strongholds, is the target of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in an ongoing operation. It is a large metropolitan area stretching from Shati, the historic refugee camp on the beach, through the wealthy neighborhood of Rimal, around to Zeitoun and the old quarter of historic Gaza. In […]
Postwar Gaza — What Will It Look Like?
Two years after October 7, 2023, governments are finally recognizing the need to adopt a plan for postwar Gaza, even while fighting is ongoing. On August 27, President Donald Trump asked Jared Kushner, an architect of the Abraham Accords, and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair to develop a serious plan. In parallel with this […]
The Arab World Reconsiders Netanyahu
Once lauded for confronting Iran, Benjamin Netanyahu now faces doubt in Arab capitals as the Palestinian question returns to center stage. Not long ago, he was treated across the region as Israel’s central address. For rulers in Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, and Cairo, Netanyahu was the indispensable partner who could open doors in Washington and stand […]
Make Hamas Face a Choice
There are no easy answers to the question of what Israel should do in the Gaza Strip. Hamas is demanding a complete Israeli surrender in exchange for releasing the remaining hostages, whom it has bandied about in horrific videos. The only option is to cope intelligently and soberly with a situation that is borderline impossible. […]
Sanctioning One of Lebanon’s Largest Banks
Hizbullah has long treated Lebanon’s financial system as its personal bank vault — laundering funds, moving money through shell companies, and using quasi-banks like Al-Qard al-Hasan, a US-sanctioned entity, to keep its financial empire humming. But on July 15, something remarkable happened: Lebanon finally pushed back. The country’s central bank banned financial institutions from dealing with Al-Qard […]
The Lesson of Russian History
The German military historian Carl von Clausewitz, writing about the Napoleonic Wars, once commented on military aggressions more generally: “The conqueror is always peace-loving; he would much prefer to march into our state calmly.” After the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and covertly invaded the Donets Basin (Donbas) of […]
Israel has No Genocidal Intent and is not Committing Genocide in Gaza
In Gaza, a brutal war is being fought against a still-active enemy whose sole purpose (as demonstrated on October 7, 2023) remains the elimination of Israel. At the same time, an information war is being waged in the West, using accusations of “genocide” against Israel as a tool, including by scholars who should know better. […]
Iran Must Relearn the Lessons from Its Eight-Year War with Iraq
The Islamic Republic of Iran, in the 12 Day War with Israel, witnessed the dramatic end of a strategy Iran spent thirty years perfecting and what it worked so hard to avoid: international isolation and direct military strikes on its own territory. Learning from Trauma Iran’s “proxy strategy” was born from trauma. The eight-year war […]
How to Finance Ukraine’s Defense Industry
At this year’s Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome, all eyes were on the country’s fast-growing defense-technology sector. With Kyiv now in its fourth year of war with Russia, Ukraine’s home-grown firms urgently need fresh capital – public, private, and blended – to offset gaps in allied arms deliveries and anchor Ukraine’s long-term recovery. Longstanding prohibitions […]
Hamas at a Crossroads
Today’s Hamas is a very different organization from the one we knew from its formal establishment in December 1987 through its surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Yet many politicians, members of the intelligence community and media commentators still insist on viewing the Palestinian “Islamic Resistance Movement” [the translation of the Arabic acronym […]
