Decision Points

The Gaza war is over, but the misery on the ground continues. Reconstruction in the Gaza Strip has stalled; Hamas refuses to disarm; and the world's attention has moved on to the Iran war and other issues. Gaza remains bitterly divided: Hamas retains its grip on Gaza's densely populated coast, and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ​recently said that he had directed Israel's military to se...

The conflict may be over, but the shockwaves of the Iran war are still spreading. The United Arab Emirates and other Gulf states endured Iranian drone and missile strikes; Iran withstood weeks of bombardment from the U.S. and Israel, which have perhaps the world’s two strongest air forces; and leaders across the region have been left wondering if they can rely on the U.S. for security. Gulf countr...

Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly central to U.S. strategy in the Middle East. AI has played a pivotal role in the current Iran war, even as the U.S. is deepening its AI investments in the region. Israel and the Gulf are also jockeying to become key partners in the regional AI landscape. Host David Makovsky sits down with two top analysts, former Israeli National Security Council ai...

Conflicting statements from President Trump leave open the question about whether the Iran war is any closer to being over or whether the significant impasse over the nuclear program remains an impediment. Regardless of the outcome of the conflict, the Iran war has highlighted extraordinary and unprecedented coordination between the U.S. and Israeli militaries even as Iran has throttled the Strait...

One of Israel’s most important election cycles is underway. Opposition parties see a rare chance to oust Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, who now heads the most right-wing coalition in Israeli history. Amid the echoes of the wars in Iran, Gaza, and Lebanon, Israeli voters’ choices may shape their country—and the Middle East—for decades to come.  This will be I...

Lebanon and Israel held diplomatic talks for the first time in decades after Israel's months-long campaign against Hezbollah. But the ceasefire is shaky: Israel displaced close to a million Lebanese civilians amid fighting with Hezbollah and northern Israelis, with memories of weeks in bomb shelters, fear returning to normal life with Hezbollah still armed. Host David Makovsky sits down in back-to...

After nearly six weeks of war, the U.S. and Iran agreed on April 8 to a fragile two-week ceasefire. But Vice President JD Vance left Pakistan Sunday after 21 hours of high-level talks with the Iranians without making progress toward a deal to end the war. President Trump then threatened to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, the key oil-shipping route that Iran has throttled. However uncertain the road...

As part of Iran’s retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli war, Tehran has targeted the United Arab Emirates with more than 2,000 ballistic missiles and drones. Senior Emirati officials warn that their confrontation with Iran won’t be fleeting and will strengthen their relationship with Israel, including deeper security coordination. But if Iran’s regime emerges from the war intact and vengeful, the Gulf...

As the Iran war shakes the Middle East, Hezbollah has fired missiles into northern Israel, and Israel has struck Hezbollah-related targets across Lebanon, including in the capital Beirut, leaving hundreds dead and hundreds of thousands of Lebanese civilians displaced. In this episode of "Decision Points," Washington Institute Senior Fellows Hanin Ghaddar and Assaf Orion join host David Makovsky&nb...

In this special episode of  Decision Points , Washington Institute experts Dennis Ross, Dana Stroul, Robert Satloff, and Holly Dagres sit down with the Institute's managing director, Michael Singh, to assess the joint U.S.-Israeli air campaign against Iran and Tehran's intensifying retaliation. They explore President Trump's goals in the conflict, assess the responses from Gulf states targete...

The United States and Iran stand on the brink of war. The Pentagon has deployed a huge amount of air power in the Middle East, and President Trump has set a 10-15 day deadline to decide whether to strike. In the first episode of Season Six, Decision Points host David Makovsky is joined by former U.S. national security advisor Jake Sullivan and former Israeli national security advisor Eyal Hulata ....

Decision Points is the podcast that gets beyond the noise on tough choices in the Middle East. Hosted by David Makovsky of The Washington Institute, the show brings together top policymakers and experts from Washington and the region for candid conversations about the forces and factors driving Middle East policymaking.   Season Six tackles the toughest U.S. foreign-policy debates, from the b...

Israeli society has been through the gambit of emotions in 2024: from the national trauma of the aftermath of October 7th and repeated failed hostage negotiations, to major military achievements that have shifted the regional security landscape. As the nation looks ahead to 2025, healing internal divisions within Israel remains elusive despite the major moves to restore regional deterrence du...

After just a few days of fighting, Bashar al-Assad's regime has fallen, and Assad has fled to Russia. However, the collapse of the Assad regime is far from a fairytale ending. The rebels responsible for toppling Assad, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), are designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, and history shows that power vacuums in the Middle East often lead to prolonged instabil...

The past few weeks in the region have been some of the most eventful in recent history. Hizbullah, the crown jewel of Iran’s proxy network, has suffered a devastating blow, Iran’s air defense systems have been dismantled, and a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon has been established. At the same time, the election of President Trump has introduced an entirely new level of unpredictabilit...

After more than a year of intense fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, President Biden recently announced a ceasefire, raising hopes that this agreement could save lives, restore stability, and bring an end to the unprecedented escalation that began with the October 7 attacks. But how did this ceasefire come about, and how does it compare to the conclusion of the 2006 war in Lebanon? Israeli Pri...

Since October 1st, tensions between Israel and Iran have reached new heights. In recent weeks, we’ve seen significant Israeli strikes on Iranian targets and a weakening of Iran’s proxy network. At the same time, Israel is stretched across multiple active fronts, challenging its traditional military doctrine of short, decisive wars and increasing its reliance on U.S. resupply. With Iran reeling fro...

On October 16th, the world was shocked to learn that the architect of the October 7th attacks, Yahya Sinwar, was killed by an IDF infantry unit. Yahya Sinwar’s death was a central goal of the Israeli war effort, and it marks a significant turning point for Hamas leadership, hostage negotiations, and Palestinian society.  In this episode, David Makovsky is joined by two experts, Ghaith Al...

On November 5th, Americans will head to the polls to make a decision that will shape U.S. foreign policy towards the Middle East for years to come. Now more than ever, it is important to understand the critical foreign policy decisions that lie ahead for the United States. With the Middle East at a pivotal juncture, the outcome of this election will have lasting implications for U.S.-Israel relati...

The past few weeks have been some of the most pivotal in Israel’s modern history with Lebanon. Recently, Israeli intelligence and operational successes have delivered devastating blows to Hezbollah’s leadership, decapitating its senior command, including the infamous Hassan Nasrallah. With thousands displaced across Northern Israel and Lebanon due to the conflict, tensions have never been higher....

Iran's recent ballistic missile attack on Israel marks a significant escalation in their long-standing enmity. This attack, one of the largest in history, raises critical questions about the future of the relationship and the region at large. As tensions peak, the strategic, political, and ideological dimensions of this rivalry take on even greater importance, with both Israel’s defensive response...

October marks the 30th anniversary of the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty, a key moment in Middle East diplomacy. Since October 7th, the relationship between the two countries has been challenged like never before, with cracks appearing in the Israel-Jordan relationship. While Jordan and Israel have collaborated on strategic issues like water, energy, and security, there is a split-screen reality betwe...

Since Israel’s founding in 1948, it has never faced a reality quite like this: seven active combat fronts, including Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, the West Bank, Gaza, and Yemen. This multi-front war was once the vision of Qassem Soleimani, the late commander of the Iranian IRGC’s Quds Force, who referred to it as the “ring of fire” — a strategy designed to suffocate Israel through proxy forces on a...

Since October 7th, Israel has been grappling with the immense economic toll of a prolonged, multi-front war. While the country’s economy has weathered crises before, the past 11 months have pushed its resilience to the limit. Soaring military expenditures, plummeting tourism, and the costs of compensating reserve soldiers and displaced citizens have all taken a toll on economic growth. How much of...

In the wake of rising campus tensions over the Israel-Hamas war, Jewish students have faced increasing hostility, with a reported 700% spike in antisemitic incidents since October 7. As colleges reopen for the fall, we dive into the complexities of these protests. A recent Brandeis University survey found that almost one-third of college students feel hostility towards Israel. How can we put the B...