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    • Blue Wave, Regional Ripples: Turkey and Lebanon React to the Midterms
  • Podcast

    • Blue Wave, Regional Ripples: Turkey and Lebanon React to the Midterms

    The November 3 US midterms handed Democrats control of both chambers of Congress, a result many abroad read as a rebuke of President Donald Trump’s policies. How does the “blue wave” resonate among electorates and governments in Turkey and Lebanon, two key American partners in the Middle East? Ankara is weighing an early vote that could let President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan run again while his chief rival stands trial. Beirut, its elections postponed by war, is trying to restore state authority, including over Hizballah’s weapons. MEI Senior Fellows Gönül Tol and Fadi Nicholas Nassar join host Alistair Taylor to discuss how both countries read the results, how issues like corruption struck a chord in each, and what Ankara and Beirut expect from a Democratic Congress.

    November 12, 2026

    Alistair Taylor, Matthew Czekaj

    Syria’s SDF Integration: Progress, Obstacles, and Security Risks
  • Analysis

    • Syria’s SDF Integration: Progress, Obstacles, and Security Risks

    On October 9, protesters in the northeastern city of Hasakah raised the Syrian flag and called for the extension of state authority, roughly six weeks after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced their dissolution as an independent force. The protesters, who came from Ghwayran, al-Nashwa, al-Aziziyah, and the surrounding countryside, carried photographs of detainees. Alongside a stronger state presence, they demanded a say in how it would be exercised, from who is appointed to run local government to who is recruited into the security services.

    November 12, 2026

    Samer al-Ahmed

    The Human Story Behind Gaza: Jaser AbuMousa on the Costs of Survival for Palestinians
  • Podcast

    • The Human Story Behind Gaza: Jaser AbuMousa on the Costs of Survival for Palestinians

    Brian sits down with MEI Senior Fellow Jaser AbuMousa to assess the situation on the ground in Gaza three years after October 7 and a year into the ceasefire. Drawing on his own personal experience, Jaser explores the toll that the war and continued destruction have taken on Gaza’s residents, the implications of the recent Israeli and US elections, and the difficult path forward.

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    The Gaza Mono-Logues
  • Arts & Culture

    • The Gaza Mono-Logues

    Selected readings from the renowned Ashtar Theatre Play

    March 4, 2024, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM

    Middle East Institute, 1763 N St NW,

    Are Iran and Turkey on a collision course over West Azerbaijan?
    Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images
  • Analysis

    • Are Iran and Turkey on a collision course over West Azerbaijan?

    Over the centuries, Iran and Turkey have engaged in an ebbing and flowing, but continual, rivalry for regional influence and supremacy. Yet such potentially escalatory dynamics have not been limited to geopolitical competition by proxy; they have also spilled over into efforts to meddle in each other’s internal affairs.

    February 27, 2024

    Shukriya Bradost

    Why unconditional US support for Israel must stop
  • Commentary

    • Why unconditional US support for Israel must stop

    On 13 December 2023, following discussions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, US President Joe Biden rejected congressional calls to stop or condition US military assistance to the Jewish state.

    “We’re not going to do a damn thing other than protect Israel in the process. Not a single thing,” he said at the time.

    A month earlier, Vice President Kamala Harris said the United States “(was) not going to create any conditions on the support (it) was giving Israel to defend itself.”

    February 26, 2024

    Bilal Y. Saab

    “Exporting its internal problems”: Understanding Iran’s January missile salvos against its neighbors
    Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images
  • Analysis

    • “Exporting its internal problems”: Understanding Iran’s January missile salvos against its neighbors

    In mid-January, with the war in Gaza continuing to rage on, Iran launched a series of surprise missile attacks on its immediate neighbors Iraq, Syria, and Pakistan over two days. Taken together, these attacks illustrate that the Islamic Republic puts regime survival above national interest in its foreign policy calculations, which undermines its efforts to engender solidarity and good relations with other Muslim-majority states in the region.

    February 23, 2024

    Ali Fathollah-Nejad

    BLM has reshaped how we think of Palestine
    Photo by Craig Hudson for The Washington Post via Getty Images
  • Analysis

    • BLM has reshaped how we think of Palestine

    The ongoing catastrophe in Gaza is driving a surge in sympathy for Palestinians in the Western world that could mark a turning point in how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is engaged with moving forward. Changing attitudes among younger generations are primarily responsible for this shift, driven in part by a post-Black Lives Matter outlook and narrative that has simplified and distilled the conflict.

    February 20, 2024

    Antoun Issa

    Expelling MK Cassif: A warning sign for Palestinian representation in the Knesset
    Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images
  • Analysis

    • Expelling MK Cassif: A warning sign for Palestinian representation in the Knesset

    If the Knesset expels lawmaker Ofer Cassif, it will represent the national legislature’s first use of the Suspension Law and signal a sharp curtailing of legal space for non-Zionist players in Israeli politics.

    February 16, 2024

    Eyal Lurie-Pardes

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