Palestinian politics

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.

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. 

International Orders and Disorders

Yoram Hazony is a political philosopher, president of the Herzl Institute in Jerusalem, and the author—most recently—of a book that’s been stirring controversy: “The Virtue of Nationalism.” He joins host Cliff May to discuss tribalism, nationalism, imperialism, freedom, sovereignty, and globalism.

Israel on the Brink, As Usual

Israeli elections are approaching, President Trump’s envoys are working on a new plan aimed at resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran continue to threaten the Jewish state with annihilation.
To help make sense of these complex challenges, host Cliff May is joined by former Ambassador Daniel Shapiro and FDD Senior Vice President and expert on Palestinian politics Jonathan Schanzer. Prior toserving as U.S. envoy to Israel under President Obama from 2011 to 2017, Ambassador Shapiro worked on both the Hill and the National Security Council. He is currently a distinguished visiting fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University.

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.

Ireland’s surprise attack on Israel

Anti-Semitism is sometimes called the “the oldest hatred,” and one never knows where it will pop up next. That said, many people have been surprised—as well as disappointed—to see it crop up in Ireland in the form of legislation promoting economic warfare against Israel.On this special edition of Foreign Podicy, host Clifford D. May reads his Washington Times column on this topic, and then discuss the causes, consequences and context of Ireland’s move with Melanie Phillips—a British journalist, broadcaster and author.

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.

President Carter’s Foreign Policy—Does a New Book Shed New Light?

Stuart Eizenstat has had a long and extraordinary career. Among the influential positions he’s held: President Jimmy Carter’s chief White House Domestic Policy Advisor, President Bill Clinton’s ambassador to the European Union, and an undersecretary in the departments of Commerce and State. He’s today a leading international lawyer with Covington and Burling in Washington, D.C.
He’s now written “President Carter: The White House Years” – a memoir/history/biography focusing on just four years (1977 to 1981), but eventful years those were.
He joins Kenneth Stein, Professor of Contemporary Middle Eastern History and Founding Director of the Emory Institute for the Study of Modern Israel; Jonathan Schanzer, FDD’s Senior Vice President for Research; and FDD president and Foreign Podicy Host Clifford D. May to discuss the Carter years and the Carter legacy in foreign policy and national security.
Episode resources:President Carter: The White House Years — Stuart Eizenstat; St. Martin's PressThe life, times and foreign policies of Jimmy Carter — Clifford D. May; The Washington Times
Clifford D. May is president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), host of FDD's Foreign Podicy, and the foreign desk columnist for the Washington Times. Follow him on twitter @CliffordDMay. Jonathan Schanzer is senior vice president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Follow him on twitter @JSchanzer.
FDD is a Washington-based nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy. Follow the Foundation for Defense of Democracies on Twitter @FDD, and follow Foreign Podicy @Foreign_Podicy.

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)

UNRWA’s Palestinian Refugees

The offices of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is responsible for all the world’s refugees with one exception: Palestinian refugees. They are served by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which designates not only those who fled from the land that became Israel but also their descendants. As a result, the number of Palestinian refugees has risen from hundreds of thousands to millions.
Foreign Podicy host, Cliff May, is joined by FDD’s Jonathan Schanzer and Richard Goldberg to discuss their research on the UN agency, and their recommendations for reforms that could be beneficial to Israelis, Palestinians and American taxpayers.
Show resources:
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/25/donald-trump-palestinians-peace-216529
https://nypost.com/2017/12/27/trump-should-crack-down-on-unrwa-finally-end-fiction-of-palestinian-refugees/