Khaled Elgindy and Lara Friedman discuss the public launch of their congressional teach-in series, “Israel-Palestine: Where We Are, What Comes Next, and Why It Matters to Congress.” The series of webinars features an array of American, Palestinian, Israeli, and international experts on topics dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and U.S. policy.
Mansour Abbas: Islamist kingmaker or the “good Arab”?
At a press conference on Thursday, MK Mansour Abbas, head of the newly elected Islamist party in Israel, the United Arab List (Ra’am), made what many in the Israeli media dubbed a historic speech. In an effort to reach out to the Jewish Israeli public, he spoke in Hebrew and during the prime time on television often given to Israeli politicians. Speaking surrounded by the party’s green flags, the conservative Islamist quotedverses from the Quran calling for the creation of “an opportunity for a shared life, in the holy and blessed land for the followers of the three religions and both peoples” and told his Hebrew-speaking audience that “Now is the time for change.”
Egypt: The Pandemic Experience in a Time of Reform
Egypt announced its first COVID-19 fatality on March 8, 2020, a few months after concluding a “reform” program supported by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan it had obtained in 2016. The pandemic thus posed the first test for the IMF-prescribed economic and social policies adopted by the Government of Egypt. As this article will show, whereas the reforms helped propel economic growth in a time of global recession, they did not provide a strong social safety net for vulnerable families during the crisis.
Egypt should go green by putting a price on carbon
It is time for Egypt to put a price on carbon. While Cairo has taken small steps toward developing a sustainability plan, it needs a bold idea to stop rising carbon emissions. Establishing a carbon exchange — or putting a price on carbon — would be good for the country and help make Egypt an environmental leader in the region.
The EU’s diplomatic head and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict one year on
Josep Borrell Fontelles, former Spanish minister of foreign affairs, officially assumed the role on Dec. 1, 2019, and during his first year in office his focus in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region was primarily on four main issues: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the ongoing civil wars in Syria and Yemen, Iran’s nuclear program, and the threat of another migration crisis.
Reflecting on the global effort to fight violence against women
On March 8, the world came together to celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD), a barometer of annual development on global gender equality. This year, violence against women and women’s protection have been front and center on the political agenda across the world, including in the Middle East, as incidents of violence against them spark mass mobilization and anger from citizens. As civic activism grows, and citizens are increasingly politically and publicly engaged, women are fighting louder and harder than ever before to be a central voice in broader calls to action.
No kingmaker – and no king following Israel’s latest election
With virtually all of the vote in and results unlikely to change, it is clear: Not only will there be no kingmaker in Israel’s latest election, there will probably be no king.
Challenging Israel’s exceptionalism in American politics
While support for Israel across the political spectrum remains strong in Washington, the traditional bipartisan consensus in favor of unconditional support for Israel has begun to fray in recent years.
The Biden Administration and the Middle East: Policy Recommendations for a Sustainable Way Forward
In a new policy briefing book, entitled The Biden Administration and the Middle East: Policy Recommendations for a Sustainable Way Forward, MEI scholars tackle a large number of country-specific and region-wide issue areas, laying out both the abiding U.S. interests and specific recommendations for Biden administration policies that can further U.S. interests amid a region in turmoil.
