Read MEI’s weekly briefing featuring expert analysis of key regional developments for the week ahead.
Nine days after the Hamas attack inside Israel, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is massing troops for a large-scale ground incursion into Gaza. For now, the outlines and endgame of Israel’s military action are not entirely clear. Meanwhile, escalation is rising along the Israel-Lebanon border and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is crisscrossing the Middle East communicating both deterrence and diplomacy.
The events that began in Israel on Oct. 7 are a historical hinge. Like 9/11, as has been said, 10/7 will be remembered by most observers as a bright dividing line between “before” and “after.” What’s at stake for Israel—a fight for its survival—has echoes in other battles taking place around the world like Russia’s war against Ukraine and the Iranian regime’s continued repression of its own people. The world keeps moving toward the future, but the past and those retrograde elements that want to move the world backward still want to have a say.
Expert regional analysis by MEI scholars and contributors.
Read MEI’s weekly briefing featuring expert analysis of key regional developments for the week ahead.
This report provides an interim assessment of the Biden administration’s overall Middle East strategy and examines the strategic opportunities and risks for U.S. policy in the broader region.
Read MEI’s weekly briefing featuring expert analysis of key regional developments for the week ahead.
Read MEI’s weekly briefing featuring expert analysis of key regional developments for the week ahead.
Contents:
Expert regional analysis by MEI scholars and contributors.
The normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel is looking increasingly likely, even if it does not take place in the immediate future. For Israel, normalizing relations with as many Arab states as possible — especially if it does not have to give up much in exchange — has always been a strategic goal. For the new Saudi Arabia, those ambitious goals strongly suggest opening up to the Israeli economy.
Read MEI’s weekly briefing featuring expert analysis of key regional developments for the week ahead.
It has been nearly 70 years since Israel first asked the U.S. to sign a bilateral defense treaty. Ever since then, the idea of a formal security agreement has resurfaced from time to time, only to be struck down, due to an understanding that it does not serve the two sides’ actual needs. Prime Minister Netanyahu is currently floating the idea once again, but the U.S. can make use of his interest in a security upgrade to revive a different idea instead: the decade-old security plan for the two-state solution, known as the Allen Plan.
Middle East Focus Presents: ‘Taking the Edge Off the Middle East’ with Brian Katulis
A series of casual conversations with leading policy professionals on the most important happenings in the Middle East today – hosted by MEI VP for Policy Brian Katulis.
Ben Samuels – U.S. correspondent for Haaretz – sits down with Brian to discuss how he got into journalism, the state of politics in Israel, and the country’s ongoing judicial overhaul.
*Note: this episode was recorded on June 8, 2023.
The Biden administration is working on a deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia that could be a game changer for the Middle East. Such an opening would show just how much the tectonic plates in the region are shifting away from regional tensions, civil wars, and threats from terrorism toward a new, more promising phase of greater stability and prosperity.