Middle East Forum Podcast

While Russian and Saudi campaigns against dissidents abroad dominated news cycles, Turkish efforts remain obscure. Abdullah Bozkurt will discuss how the regime of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan relies on intimidation, abduction, and harassment to target citizens overseas. What does it do, how far is it willing to go, will the world ever notice?

That the Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox) community has at times openly flouted the lockdown rules has generated widespread anger towards it, leading to a strong majority of Israeli voters not wanting its two political parties to be part of the next government. What does this mean for Prime Minister Netanyahu and his most loyal coalition partners?

The Abraham Accords ushered in a “warm peace” between Israel and several Muslim countries, but where do things stand with Western Europe? Although this bloc consistently funds questionable NGOs and votes against Israel in international organizations, it claims to seek Israel’s best interests. How to explain this paradox? What is the role of pro-Israel voices? Is there a chance for improvement?

Modern political Islam dates back nearly a century and has spread nearly everywhere. While Islamism appears to be in decline in Muslim-majority countries, Islamists forge ahead in the West – in education, the courts, business, electoral politics, and beyond. How did they achieve this, what threat do they pose, and what can be done to defeat them?

Five out of the six parties that poll best in Israel's elections next month represent the Right, so personalities and narrow distinctions differentiate them. What are those differences and how much will the next government be affected by them?

President Biden wants to return to the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) repudiated by the Trump administration, but is it too late to turn back the clock? With Biden stating that Tehran must stop enriching uranium before sanctions are lifted, what are the chances of striking a deal? Are there better policy options on the table?

The Obama Administration’s reset of America’s role in the Middle East backfired. The Iraq withdrawal led to the rise of the Islamic State, the Iran nuclear deal emboldened a rogue regime, and a preference for regime change encouraged the Islamist winter. Has Biden learned from those mistakes? If so, what might he do differently?

With the lists of the political parties now finalized and submitted, polls show Netanyahu having a harder time forming a coalition than his opponents. Could this election be Bibi's downfall?

Contrary to its claims of reform and non-violence, the Muslim Brotherhood has an Islamist program and relies heavily on intimidation. Drawing on her original research of previously unreleased Egyptian documents, Cynthia Farahat explains how the MB is less a political entity that relies on terrorist tactics and more a jihadi organization that deploys a political façade.

After four years on the backburner, the Palestinian issue is resurfacing with the advent of the Biden Administration. What does this mean for Israel and beyond?

Increasingly, Arabic-speaking Christians in Israel, led by Father Gabriel Naddaf of Nazareth, seek to escape the Palestinian identity and fully to integrate their community into the Jewish state, with an emphasis on IDF service. They are working at this with help from Jews like Amit Barak. What challenges to integration do Israel’s Arab Christians face? Are they succeeding?

What happens after Ayatollah Khamenei dies? Will another leading cleric or his son succeed him? Might the Iranian Revolutionary Guard insert its own candidate? Ali Alfoneh discusses the impending transition and suggests how the U.S. government can positively influence it.

With President Joe Biden just sworn in, what next for Israel, Prime Minister Netanyahu, and the elections in March?

Kurds, often said to be the world’s largest people without a state, are in an acute state of flux in Iran, Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. Ofra Bengio lays out the history and geography, the current status of Kurds in each country, and considers the prospects of an emerging Kurdistan.

Conventional history holds that Muhammed was born in Mecca, received visitation from the Angel Gabriel at age forty, and died in 632 Medina. But what if Muhammed never existed? That’s the question Robert Spencer asks and answers in his MEF-commissioned book, Did Muhammed Exist?, building on evidence that a committee in Iraq wrote the Koran. What does this imply for Islamic faith and practice?

The run-up to Israeli elections finds new parties being founded and old ones splitting up. What does this mean in the larger picture? If no combination reaches a majority of parliamentary seats, what does this mean for the country?

As Turkey becomes increasingly unreliable, Greece offers a viable alternative. It has established unprecedentedly close relations with Washington and Jerusalem, been at the center of multilateral initiatives. In turn, Washington has increased investment in Souda Bay and passed the Eastern Mediterranean Security and Energy Partnership Act. Can Greece help move Americans on from their tortured relat...

Turmoil marks the buildup to Israel’s fourth elections in two years. Who are the key players? What are the issues? Will Netanyahu again emerge as prime minister?

Twenty-twenty saw two major developments helpful to Israel Victory: IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi revolutionized Israel’s military doctrine and the four breakthroughs with Arab states. What next to signal to the Palestinians that they lost and the gig is up?

Sam Westrop and Benjamin Baird argue two points, based on MEF’s Islamist Watch project and Counter-Islamism Grid: the growing irrelevance of Muslim Brotherhood networks in the West and the growing importance of other Islamist movements, such as Turkey’s many agents and Pakistan’s Deobandis.

Campus Watch director Winfield Myers will discuss CW’s recent efforts to hold academe accountable by leading a campaign against the misuse of taxpayer dollars to support politicized, anti-American, and anti-Israel programming. CW’s efforts have spurred a Government Accountability Office audit of foreign area programs. Mr. Myers will also discuss CW’s work in 2021 focusing on greater transparency a...

With over a quarter of all Arab countries now enjoying full relations with Israel, is the Arab states' conflict with Israel finally over?

Cliff Smith, the Middle East Forum's Washington Project Director, will speak about what the Washington Project does to advance MEF goals in Washington D.C. He'll also discuss MEF’s successes to influence decision makers on a range of issues: Qatari propaganda, antisemitism in Middle East studies, and exposing radical Islamic networks.

Azerbaijan just won a surprisingly easy victory over Armenia and reclaimed much of the territories lost in the 1990s surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. This success owed much to utilizing new technologies, especially drones acquired from Turkey and Israel. Does this outcome have broader lessons have for future warfare in the Middle East and beyond? What specific implications does it have for Turkey and...

How does the UAE-Israel normalization agreement feel on the ground? Is there any chance to avert another Israeli elections? And what will change afterwards?