Lebanon

Israel’s Little Fires Everywhere

The Islamic Republic of Iran makes no effort to conceal its desire to wipe Israel off the map. Just this week, leaders called for the elimination of two major Israeli cities: Tel Aviv and Haifa. The regime in Tehran deploys a wide range of tools and proxies to achieve this end. The result was a series of low-level conflagrations over the course of the last several weeks, with Iranian proxies routinely attacking Israel both inside and just beyond its borders:
In Lebanon, Iran-backed Hezbollah fired more than forty rockets at Israel.
In Syria, the Iranian regime has deployed Shiite militias and military installations that Israel strikes with regularity.
In the West Bank, longstanding terror groups (and, now, some new ones) continue to attack Israel. The Palestinian Authority has essentially lost control, making the West Bank even more lawless and dangerous. Iran seeks to exploit this chaos.
In Gaza, the Hamas terrorist group routinely fires salvos of rockets into Israel — including about three dozen very recently.
All of this has been happening during the holy month of Ramadan, a period in which every year Iran has worked to stoke tensions and incite violence. This year has been no exception, with rioters at the Temple Mount throwing rocks and shooting fireworks at police.
Little fires everywhere. That’s what the Israeli Defense Forces saw this month. And from all appearances, the IDF has snuffed all of them out.
But there are no permanent victories in the Middle East — only permanent battles.
To discuss, FDD Senior Vice President for Research Jonathan Schanzer (filling in for host Cliff May) is joined by Brigadier General Jacob Nagel. He’s the former acting Israeli National Security Advisor under Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. He’s also a Senior Fellow at FDD.

Tools of Terror: Iran’s Growing Ballistic Missile Threat

The Islamic Republic of Iran possesses the largest ballistic missile arsenal in the Middle East, and Tehran is working hard to increase its size and quality by pursuing improvements in precision, range, mobility, warhead design, and survivability. That’s one of the conclusions drawn by FDD Senior Fellow and Iran expert Behnam Ben Taleblu in his major new FDD Monograph, "Arsenal: Assessing the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Ballistic Missile Program."
Leveraging an impressive array of English and Persian-language sources, Behnam has produced one of the most comprehensive publicly available assessments to date of Iranian ballistic missile program. In it, he warns that we should expect more missile attacks and transfers from Iran in the future.
In his foreword for the monograph, Vice Admiral (Ret.) James D. Syring, Former Director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, writes that Behnam’s “findings and recommendations will stimulate a productive policy discussion regarding the steps Washington must take to counter the rising Iranian ballistic missile threat.”
So, what are the origins of Tehran’s ballistic missile program? How has it evolved? What are its current capabilities? How does the Islamic Republic view and use its missile arsenal? And what should the U.S. and its allies and partners do about it?
To discuss these questions and more, Behnam and Lieutenant General (retired) H.R. McMaster — soldier, former White House National Security Advisor, and Chairman of the Board of Advisors at FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power — join CMPP Senior Director and guest host Bradley Bowman.
 
 

Junipers, Oaks, and Killer Tomatoes

The United States and Israel conducted the Juniper Oak 23 multi-domain military exercise in late January. The Pentagon calls it the “largest” and “most significant” bilateral U.S.-Israel exercise in history.
This exercise comes as the Islamic Republic of Iran deepens its relationship with China and Russia, continues to export terrorism, inches toward a nuclear weapon, and expands the missile means to deliver a weapon of mass destruction to its target.
So, what was this military exercise all about? What makes it unique? Why does it matter? What comes next?
Filling in for Cliff May, senior director of FDD's Center on Military and Political Power Bradley Bowman asks Lieutenant General Gregory Guillot.
Lt. Gen. Gregory Guillot is the Deputy Commander of U.S. Central Command, which is the Pentagon’s regional combatant command responsible for the Middle East. CENTCOM was established a few years after the  revolution in Iran in 1979 and views deterring Iran as its number one command priority.
Lieutenant General Gregory Guillot
General Guillot received his commission from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1989 and has commanded a flying squadron, operations group, and two flying wings. Most recently, he served as the commander of the Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central), Combined Force Air Component Commander within CENTCOM. He’s a senior air battle manager with more than 1,380 flying hours.

From Malmo to Jerusalem

Jonathan Conricus was born in Jerusalem but grew up in Sweden. His family returned to Israel when he was 13 years old. A few years later he joined the Israeli Defense Forces, eventually rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel and serving as the IDF’s international spokesman.
He joins Foreign Podicy host and FDD founder and president Cliff May to discuss his life, career, what it was like dealing with the journalistic herd, and – now that he’s retired from the military – opine on some of the Middle East’s many conflicts and controversies.
Also joining the conversation is Jonathan Schanzer, FDD’s senior vice president for research at FDD whose most recent book, Gaza Conflict 2021: Hamas, Israel and Eleven Days of War, challenges – and corrects – some of the major media’s inaccurate reporting on that conflict.

Connecting the Dots from Tehran to Gaza

Israel’s latest armed conflict was with a group that calls itself Islamic Jihad, or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or PIJ.
It’s supported, armed, and trained by the rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
To learn more about this American-designated terrorist organization, how badly it was set back by the missiles of August, and what Iran’s rulers might do to build it back better, host Cliff May is joined by FDD Chief Executive Mark Dubowitz, who was in Israel during the three-day battle, and by FDD Senior Vice President for Research Jonathan Schanzer. Jon, who is also the author of Gaza Conflict 2021: Israel, Hamas, and Eleven Days of War, closely followed reporting on the fighting in English, Hebrew, and Arabic.

Joe Biden in the Jewish State and the Saudi Kingdom

A couple of weeks ago, Joe Biden went to Israel and Saudi Arabia. This was not a summer vacation. The president had goals. Did he achieve any? Did he set any back?
Foreign Podicy host Clifford D. May poses these and other questions to Michael Singh and Hussain Abdul-Hussain.
Michael Singh
Michael is the Managing Director and Lane-Swig Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute. From 2005 to 2008, he was senior director for Middle East affairs at the White House National Security Council.
He’s also served as special assistant to secretaries of state Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell and at the U.S. embassy in Israel.
Hussain Abdul-Hussain
Hussain is a research fellow at FDD. Formerly a managing editor of Beirut’s Daily Star, he has reported from war zones in Lebanon and Iraq. He headed the Washington Bureau of the Kuwaiti daily Alrai.
He’s been a Visiting Fellow with London’s Chatham House, and he’s published in numerous Arabic and English language publications, including in The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Deal or No Deal: Confronting the Islamic Republic of Iran the Reagan Way

FDD experts have worked for more than a decade on the threat posed by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
As part of a multi-pronged strategy, FDD has shared nonpartisan research and analyses with policymakers, lawmakers, and the business community.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is slated to hold its first public hearing on the theocratic regime in more than two years with administration officials and top experts, and they have invited FDD’s Mark Dubowitz – who founded our Iran program – to testify as an expert witness.
He joins Foreign Podicy host Cliff May — along with FDD’s Rich Goldberg, who recently served on the National Security Council as the Director for Countering Iranian Weapons of Mass Destruction; and FDD’s Toby Dershowitz who has played a significant role in shaping and messaging policies to counter the threats from Tehran — to discuss the impending Iran nuclear deal.

An Israel Briefing

Russia ravages Ukraine. China eyes Taiwan. North Korea prepares a nuclear test. And negotiations for a new — and worse — iteration of President Obama’s deeply-flawed Iran nuclear deal remain on life-support.  
The rules-based, American-led order is hanging in the balance — and although they weren’t granted a seat at the negotiating table, Israel currently faces a unique threat with a build-up of Iranian weapons at almost each of its borders.
Unlike with the Americans at the negotiating table, the theocratic regime in Tehran doesn’t want Israelis to submit — they want Israelis to perish. And also unlike the U.S., Israel takes this existential threat both literally and seriously.  
Inside its borders, meanwhile, there’s been new wave of terrorist attacks in recent weeks as tensions in Jerusalem again approach boiling.
All this as we reach the one-year mark since the Gaza conflict of 2021.
Filling in for host Cliff May, FDD Senior Vice President for Research Jonathan Schanzer (who literally wrote the book on last year’s conflict) is joined by Brigadier General Jacob Nagel — a Senior Fellow at FDD and former acting Israeli National Security Advisor to Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu (and who also contributed to the Hebrew edition of Jon’s book) — to discuss these and related issues.

Willful Blindness: Revisiting the 2021 Gaza War

In 2005, Israelis withdrew from Gaza – every soldier, every farmer, every synagogue, every grave. It was an historic land-for-peace experiment – and it failed.
In May, Hamas began firing missiles at Israeli cities, towns, and villages, sparking the fourth intense armed conflict since Hamas defeated Fatah and began ruling Gaza.
Many in the international media blamed Israel more than Hamas – despite the fact that it was Hamas that attacked; despite the fact that Hamas used human shields, a clear violation of international and U.S. law; despite the fact that Hamas’ intentions toward Israelis are openly and unambiguously genocidal.
Jonathan Schanzer, FDD’s senior vice president for research, a ground-breaking scholar of Middle Eastern affairs, has now produced the first and, so far, only book on this conflagration: Gaza Conflict 2021: Hamas, Israel and Eleven Days of War.
Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus served as the international spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces during the fighting. Both join Foreign Podicy host Cliff May to discuss why Hamas fights and how Israel defends itself.

Israel’s Shield in the Sky

In May, Hamas leaders in Gaza — a territory from which Israelis withdrew in 2005 — launched more than 4,000 missiles at Israel, sparking an eleven-day conflict that would have been bloodier — on both sides — had the Israelis not been in possession of the Iron Dome, a marvel of engineering that intercepts and destroys short-range missiles before they can reach their intended victims. In other words, it is not a sword but a shield.
Last month, far-left House Democrats blocked a bill to keep the federal government operating until it was stripped of funds to help Israelis replenish interceptors for the Iron Dome.
A few days later, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer brought Iron Dome up as a stand-alone bill. There were 420 votes in favor and nine opposed.
To discuss these and related issues, Foreign Podicy host Cliff May is joined by Jacob Nagel, who has served in the Israeli Defense Forces, the Israeli Defense Ministry, and the Prime Minister’s Office including as the head of Israel’s National Security Council and acting National Security Advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
He headed the “Nagel Committee,” which was responsible for Israel’s decision to develop Iron Dome. He also led the negotiations and signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for U.S. military aid to Israel from 2018 to 2027. He’s currently a visiting professor at the Technion Aerospace Engineering Faculty and a senior fellow at FDD.
Also joining the conversation: Enia Krivine, Senior Director of FDD’s Israel Program as well as FDD’s National Security Network; and Bradley Bowman, senior director of FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power.
Before joining FDD, Enia's work focused on strengthening U.S.-Israel relations including at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC); the Israel Allies Foundation; and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where she served as a Middle East fellow.
Brad has served as a national security advisor to members of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees. Prior to that, he was an active-duty U.S. Army officer, Black Hawk pilot, and assistant professor at West Point.

The UN’s Strange Obsession with Israel

An extraordinary number of organizations within the UN system spend most of their time, money, and energy demonizing and attempting to de-legitimize Israel — and claiming to defend Palestinians. 
Joining Foreign Podicy host Cliff May to talk about UNIFIL, UNRWA, the UNHRC, and several other organizations specifically committed to what is commonly – though perhaps not accurately – called the “Palestinian cause” are FDD research fellow Tony Badran; FDD research analyst David May; and Richard Goldberg senior advisor at FDD, and editor of a recently published FDD monograph, “A Better Blueprint for International Organizations,” to which all three contributed and which Rich edited.

Israel, Post-Bibi

For the past 12 years, Benjamin Netanyahu served as Israel’s prime minister, fighting wars and wars-between-wars against Hamas and Hezbollah; opposing President Obama’s attempts to propitiate Iran’s rulers who openly threaten Israelis with genocide; attempting to block blows from the United Nations, an organization that spends inordinate amounts of time and money slandering Israelis; engaging in palavers with Vladimir Putin who has now re-established Russia as a power in the Middle East; not convincing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to seriously negotiate with him; yet managing to establish Israeli diplomatic relations with a growing number of nations – including, under the Abraham Accords, Arab nations.
Netanyahu has now been replaced by a diverse coalition of his opponents – on both the right and the left and including an Arab/Muslim party.
How will the new gang cope with Israel’s multiple threats and challenges?
FDD senior vice president Jonathan Schanzer has just returned from the Holy Land. He joins Foreign Podicy host Cliff May for a wide-ranging discussion.

Biden’s Mission to Realign the Middle East

President Biden has been eager to rejoin the deal that President Obama concluded with Iran’s rulers in 2015 and from which President Trump withdrew three years later.
The quarrel between advocates for, and critics of, the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) has been viewed as a disagreement over how best to prevent the theocrats in Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability.
Michael Doran, a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, and Tony Badran, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies dissent from that view. In Tablet, they’ve written a comprehensive analysis arguing that Mr. Biden intends to both enrich and empower Iran’s rulers – while simultaneously downgrading relations with Saudi Arabia, the Gulf Arab states, Israel, and other former friends (read their article here).
In other words, President Biden is attempting to establish a “new Middle Eastern order” — one that regards the Islamic Republic of Iran as America’s primary strategic partner in the region. They conclude also that President Biden has decided not to speak candidly about this dramatic change – which they call “The Realignment.”
As for latest kinetic battle between Israel and Hamas, they see that as an inevitable consequence of the Biden tilt toward Tehran. They discuss all this and more with Foreign Podicy host Cliff May.

Iran’s Road from Monarchy to Islamist Theocracy and Empire

February 11, 2021 is the forty-second anniversary of the revolution that transformed Iran from a Western-aligned monarchy to an anti-Western Islamist theocracy.
Ray Takeyh is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, one of America’s leading analysts of contemporary Iran, and the author of a new book: “The Last Shah: America, Iran and the Fall of the Pahlavi Dynasty.”
Reuel Marc Gerecht is a senior fellow at FDD, a former officer in the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, and also an expert on Iran — both contemporary and ancient.
Both join host Cliff May to discuss the Revolution.

War and Peace, and Wars Between Wars

In the past — at least in the past as we like to remember it — wars began with declarations and ended with surrenders or negotiated “peace agreements.”
In the real world — most emphatically in the real world of the 21st century — there are wars, and there are wars between wars.
Jacob Nagel, a senior fellow at FDD, served as head of Israel’s National Security Council. Before that, he served in the Israel Defense Forces, rising to the rank of brigadier general.
Bradley Bowman is senior director of FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP). He has served as a national security advisor to members of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees. He was also a U.S. Army officer, “Blackhawk” pilot, and assistant professor at West Point, from which he also graduated.
They join host Clifford D. May to discuss issues of war and peace — and the grey zone in between.
 
Subscribe to FDD's Foreign Podicy here on Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you enjoy listening to podcasts.
 
More from Cliff: https://www.fdd.org/team/clifford-d-may/ 
More from Jacob: https://www.fdd.org/team/jacob-nagel/ 
More from Brad: https://www.fdd.org/team/bradley-bowman/ 
More from FDD's Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP): https://www.fdd.org/projects/center-on-military-and-political-power/ 

Deal or No Deal

Following a lengthy period of incubation, President Trump has unveiled a plan intended to resolve the long-running Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Whether it can achieve that — whether such a goal is achievable any time soon — is worth an in-depth discussion. There’s no one better to have that conversation with than Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president for research at FDD, who has written extensively on Palestinian politics and related topics.

Israel and the Fire Next Time

Israel is not always fighting a war but neither is it ever entirely at peace.
Most recently, a battle was fought in Gaza against Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a terrorist group supported and instructed by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Soon after, Israel hit threatening Iranian military installations in Syria.
To discuss Israel’s strategy for the battles and wars, present and future, Foreign Podicy host and FDD president Cliff May is joined by Gen. Jacob Nagel, a visiting fellow at FDD and a visiting professor at the Technion Aerospace Engineering Facility. In 2016 – 17, Gen. Nagel served as head of Israel’s National Security Council, and as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s National Security Advisor. He also headed the “Nagel Committee” which was responsible for Israel’s decision to develop the Iron Dome missile defense system.
Also joining the discussion is Jonathan Schanzer, FDD’s senior vice president for research who has written extensively about the Middle East in general and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in particular.

Troubles Mount in Lebanon

For weeks, the people of Lebanon have been taking to the streets to demonstrate against the political class that rules them – or, rather, misrules them. They’re protesting corruption, economic mismanagement, high unemployment and poor government services.
But there’s something else at work, something much of the media are reluctant to report: the extent to which Hezbollah, a proxy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, a terrorist organization deeply involved in international organized crime, now calls the shots in Lebanon.
FDD research fellow Tony Badran, Lebanon born and bred, and Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former CIA operative, now a senior fellow at FDD, join Foreign Podicy host Cliff May to discuss the turmoil in the Levant and the policy responses of the United States and other countries.

Israelis stay the course

In the Middle East, elections are few, far between and rarely free and fair – except in Israel. After a tight, tough race, Benjamin Netanyahu has again been chosen by Israelis, positioning him to become Israel’s longest-serving prime minister. FDD senior vice president Jonathan Schanzer was on the ground during the final days of the campaign. He joins host Cliff May to discuss the outcome and what lies ahead for Israel and the Middle East. 

In the Line of Fire: Human Shields

War is always going to be hell, but the laws of war are intended to make armed conflicts a little less hellish.
With that in mind, Congress recently passed—and the president signed—critical new legislation against the use of human shields: putting civilians in the line of fire to protect combatants. But more remains to be done.To discuss this war crime, host Cliff May is joined by FDD CEO Mark Dubowitz and FDD Senior Fellow Professor Orde Kittrie, who have been working long and hard to counter what Ambassador Nikki Haley told Cliff is “the most cowardly act you can imagine.”
 
From the episode:"Get Serious About Human Shields" by Mark Dubowitz and Orde Kittrie in The Wall Street Journal: https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2018/08/23/get-serious-about-human-shields/
"Lawfare: Law as a Weapon of War" by Orde Kittrie (Oxford University Press, 2016: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/lawfare-9780190263577?cc=us&lang=en&
Cliff's interview with Ambassador Nikki Haley at FDD's National Security Summit (video and transcript): https://www.fdd.org/events/2018/08/28/fdds-national-security-summit-3/
Mark and Orde speaking at FDD's panel on Capitol Hill "Legal Implications Surrounding the Use of Human Shields" (video): https://www.fdd.org/events/2018/03/16/legal-implications-surrounding-the-use-of-human-shields/
More from Mark: https://markdubowitz.org/https://www.fdd.org/team/mark-dubowitz/
More from Orde: https://www.fdd.org/team/orde-kittrie/
More from Cliff: https://www.fdd.org/team/clifford-d-may/

Future Wars: a Conversation with H.R. McMaster

H.R. McMaster served as a U.S. Army officer for thirty-four years—including deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan—before retiring as a Lieutenant General in June 2018. He then served as White House national security advisor. Now a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, he also chairs the Board of Advisors at FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power.
He joins host Cliff May for a discussion about national security during a challenging and dangerous time—a time when the U.S. is threatened by a motley crew of rivals, adversaries and sworn enemies.

Special Edition: Crime Without Punishment

On this special edition of Foreign Podicy, host Clifford D. May reads his latest column for The Washington Times co-authored by FDD senior vice president Toby Dershowitz about Alberto Nisman—the intrepid Argentine prosecutor who spent years revealing the truth behind the worst terrorist attack in his country’s history—and who paid for it with his life when he was found murdered four years ago today.
Toby, who knew Alberto well, talks about him, the evidence he produced, and the choice that Argentines now face: to act on that evidence, or to surrender to terrorists and murderers.

Tunnel Vision: America and Europe’s distorted view of the Middle East

Iran has a plan.
February will be 40 years since Ayatollah Khomeini returned from exile to Tehran to lead what he called an Islamic Revolution, and begin forming a government committed to jihad. By the end of 1979, he was supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
What he and his acolytes intend has been stated clearly and with consistency by Iran’s ruling ayatollahs. They intend to destroy their regional enemies, establish a great new empire and dominate the Middle East.
They also intend death to America—that may take longer, but they're not impatient, and they have friends and family to help. In particular, they have Hezbollah, Iran’s Arab, Shia terrorist proxy. Although based in Lebanon, Hezbollah is willing and able to fight beyond Lebanon's borders, for example in Syria and, if they can, on Israeli soil—by digging under Israeli soil.
President Trump's decision to withdraw from Syria can only be seen as a victory for the Islamic Republic, as well as for the Islamic State, which may now have an opportunity to revive and rebuild.
FDD president and Foreign Podicy host Clifford D. May is joined by Tony Badran—FDD research fellow and Hezbollah expert—and Jonathan Schanzer—FDD senior vice president for research—to discuss the tunnel vision preventing so many Americans and Europeans from seeing clearly what's really happening in the Middle East.

A Conversation with Ambassador Nikki Haley

Jeane J. Kirkpatrick was one of the visionaries who helped create the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies soon after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Six years ago, FDD inaugurated an award in honor of the first woman to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations — a statesman who vehemently opposed totalitarianism and resolutely defended American values.
 
This year, FDD’s Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Statesmanship Award was presented to Ambassador Nikki R. Haley who has brought a precise moral compass and a distinctly American voice to the United Nations. She sat down with FDD president and Foreign Podicy host Clifford D. May to discuss human rights, U.N. reform and other consequential national security issues we face today.
 
Resources:Woman of the world — Clifford D. May; The Washington Times
FDD’s National Security Summit featuring Ambassador Nikki Haley (Video available here; transcript available here)
 

The Wars of the Jews

Israel is a tiny country: its land area about a fourth the size of the United Arab Emirates, its population less than that of Tehran—capital of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Yet Israel is the subject of constant comment and controversy, and is frequently attacked—both kinetically and rhetorically—by its enemies, its adversaries, and too often even by those who should be its allies.To help make sense of Israel's most recent conflicts and controversies —including over sovereignty of the Golan Heights, the Nation-State law, and the anti-Israeli sentiments expressed by many of the UN's agencies—FDD president and Foreign Podicy host Clifford D. May is joined by Eugene Kontorovich, Director of the Kohelet Policy Forum, an Israeli think tank, and Professor at George Mason University’s Scalia School of Law, whose areas of expertise include constitutional law, federal courts, international law, and the Arab-Israeli conflict.International Law and the Recognition of Israeli Sovereignty in the Golan Heights — Eugene Kontorovich; Written testimony for House Oversight Committee's Subcommittee on National Security (http://bit.ly/2wGrjXb)Get Over It—Israel Is the Jewish State — Eugene Kontorovich; The Wall Street Journal (https://on.wsj.com/2LUo4QX)Stop funding UN agencies that welcome the PLO — Eugene Kontorovich; New York Post (https://nyp.st/2Ch8qzA)