Middle East Archives

Analyses

Middle East

October 7, 2023 is not just a turning point for Israel and the Jewish diaspora; it must be a turning point for the Palestinian struggle. The Palestinian people must free themselves of the scourge of Hamas. The acts of violence by Hamas do not only constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity; they also reveal that Islamic Jihadi ideology, which revels in the imagery of violence, which has overtaken the movement.

International Affairs
The Fallacy of Comparing Hamas’ Attack to the Holocaust
Simone Disegni 6 November 2023

Almost a month after the Hamas attack on Israel, the Middle East is on the verge of a political, military and social explosion. Europe and the West are not immune; very serious, high-risk lines of tension are slowly reappearing. If this happens, it will be because precise political wills have constructed and disseminated for decades a distorted and poisonous rhetoric to which millions of people are enslaved, often in spite of themselves. So much so that the power of these narratives can easily overwhelm the objectivity of facts, even their relevance.
International Affairs
The Hamas-Israel Conflict: Three Reminders for the Long Run
Gaetano Pentassuglia 27 October 2023

As the level of brutality of the Hamas-Israel conflict further intensifies, and its effects become measured by the scale of defiance of international humanitarian and criminal law, it is vitally important that we retain the intellectual ability to step back from the horrors of the current confrontation and reflect on two fundamentals that must define any conversation on any type of settlement over the long term. One is Israel’s right to exist within secure borders under international law; the other is the equally sacrosanct legal right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.
Books
Shibli’s Frankfurt Award Another Casualty of Gaza’s War
Alessandra Tommasi 25 October 2023
International Affairs
Assaf Sharon: Netanyahu was Blind to the Hamas Threat
Giancarlo Bosetti , Alessandra Tommasi 20 October 2023

Assaf Sharon, a philosophy professor at the University of Tel Aviv and founder of the Center for the Renewal of Israeli Democracy, discusses the complex interplay between Israeli politics, security challenges, and populism in the wake of recent events. Talking to Reset DOC, he addresses the weakening of democratic values, the credibility of the Israeli government, and the prospects for a two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
International Affairs
Biden is Right: the US’ 2003 Catastrophe
Should be Avoided at all Costs
Hussein Ibish 20 October 2023

Hamas obviously thinks that if it wants to take over the Palestinian movement, it needs another sustained insurgency against Israeli occupation. Hamas is hoping to lure the Israeli military back into the interior of Gaza for the urban combat that favors insurgent groups. Hamas hopes a sustained insurgency can eventually result in a steady drip of killed and captured Israeli conscripts, allowing Hamas to claim that it alone is actively fighting for Palestine. What this means is that in trying to fulfill the pledge to “eliminate Hamas,” Israel could well deliver everything Hamas is counting on.
International Affairs
Away from Treacherous Traps:
Why Biden is Holding Netanyahu Back
Siegmund Ginzberg 19 October 2023

Why does Hamas deliberately flaunt the horrors it perpetrates? To demonstrate Israel’s lack of preparation and Hamas’s own military prowess? To spread terror? To disorient, to humiliate, to foster a sense of paralysis and powerlessness? To say: look, we can get you when and how we want? Or perhaps to say: yes, we are the beasts you say we are, come and avenge yourselves, come and get us in Gaza?
International Affairs
As Gaza Land Incursion Looms,
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict at a Crossroads
Claudia De Martino 18 October 2023

On October 7, a major coordinated military operation by Hamas resulted in terrorist attacks in Israel marking a significant escalation in the Israeli-Arab conflict, with a higher casualty count than previous conflicts. The Israeli establishment was caught off guard due to internal divisions and a lack of military readiness. Hamas’s objectives included challenging the IDF’s invincibility, garnering international support for the Palestinian cause, and disrupting normalization efforts between Saudi Arabia and Israel. The conflict is now on the verge of a land incursion by Israel to eliminate Hamas in Gaza, potentially drawing regional players into the fray.
International Affairs
If this is the Israeli 9/11, US mistakes must be avoided
Michael Freedman 17 October 2023

In response to 9/11, the US attacked Afghanistan, and afterwards Iraq. Both these campaigns ultimately failed, suggesting important limitations to deterrence, counterterrorism, and the difficulties of state building. If this was Israel’s 9/11 moment, it can try to avoid post 9/11 mistakes by acknowledging the limitations of deterrence, military force, and more forcefully pursue political solutions.
Gender, Human Rights
One Year After Mahsa Amini’s Death
Continuing the Demand of “Woman, Life, Freedom”
Arghawan Farsi 12 October 2023

One year has passed since a young Kurdish woman named Jina Mahsa Amini died in the custody of the Iranian morality police in Tehran on September 16th, 2022. Her death sparked a revolutionary movement of Iranian women and men demanding “Woman, Life, Freedom.” It is a challenge to grasp and formulate everything that has happened in this past year, as the revolutionary movement has amplified a variety of voices, showing the will of individuals living in Iran to create change, though not yet successful, it has already come at a great cost.