FDD's Foreign Podicy

Although six weeks have passed since Iran-backed Hamas terrorists invaded Israel and butchered more than 1,200 innocent civilians while taking hostage another 240, this is just the beginning of Israel’s multi-front defensive war.

One key battlefield: the information space.

Historically, the odds of winning in this arena have not been in Israel’s favor. They don’t seem to be now, either.

To understand why, host Cliff May and Israeli journalist and author Matti Friedman dissect both past and present media coverage of Gaza.

They explain how almost all the foreign press’ current work inside Gaza is being conducted by local “fixers” who either support or dare not cross Hamas. In either case, Hamas controls the narrative.

Despite an ethical imperative, most news organizations are not transparent about these restrictions that ultimately shape their coverage. And while this helps explain the “almost eagerness” of the press to accept without question and package as news Hamas talking points, Matti tells Cliff that a “deeper psychology” is also in play.

For an update on Israel's ground offensive in Gaza, AKA Israel's War on Terrorism, host Cliff May is joined by FDD experts Jonathan Schanzer — FDD Senior Vice President for Research and author of Gaza Conflict 2021: Hamas, Israel and Eleven Days of War — and FDD Senior Fellow Jacob Nagel, who previously served as Israel's National Security Advisor under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

They unpack IDF findings from inside (and underneath) the Shifa hospital complex in Gaza. They discuss the broader challenge that Israel faces with Hamas' expansive network of underground tunnels lurking beneath even more hospitals and other civilian infrastructure all over Gaza — how deep are they? Can Israel actually destroy every single one of them? Is it where Hamas is hiding hostages? They explain why Qatar has yet to broker a "deal" between Israel and Hamas to free hostages and why relying on Qatar for that in the first place was "ridiculous" — one of our experts even shares what he thinks is Israel's most promising course of action to secure hostages. (...and more.)

The October 7 atrocities committed against Israel and by Hamas terrorists with support from the Islamic Republic of Iran has frozen the rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Israel, as the clerical regime in Tehran doubtless anticipated. Now, the future of Saudi-Israeli relations may well depend on the outcome of Israel's war against Hamas. 

Host Cliff May is joined by top experts Bernard Haykel and Mark Dubowitz to discuss the status of Israeli-Saudi relations on October 6 versus now, including just how close the U.S. was to reaching a deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia — and the likelihood of those talks resuming; why these normalization efforts motivated Tehran to unleash Hamas on October 7; and how those who correctly decried the Khashoggi murder remain silent on the October 7 butchering of Americans in Israel. 

They consider the future of Israel's war against Hamas, including day-after scenarios for when Israel cripples Hamas — will this war really be over after that? And what future role might the Saudis play in a post-war Gaza and West Bank?

They also break down the ways in which Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's Vision 2030 expands beyond economics as a broader vision for the Middle East and Saudi Arabia's role in it; the importance of Vision 2030 building Saudi Arabia as a nation — and why this contradicts the Islamist vision of expansion held by the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Bernard Haykel

Bernard is a professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. His research focuses on the “political and social tensions that arise from questions about religious identity and authority” with a particular emphasis on Islam, history, and the countries of the Arabian Peninsula. His books include “Saudi Arabia in Transition” and “Revival and Reform in Islam.”

Mark Dubowitz

Mark is FDD’s chief executive officer. He has conducted extensive research in Saudi Arabia and in Israel and on (not in!) the Islamic Republic of Iran. Indeed, he has been both sanctioned and threatened by Tehran’s rulers. He has also been sanctioned by Russia and blacklisted by Turkey.  

Nearly a month ago, Hamas invaded Israel and murdered over 1,400 men, women, and children. It was the deadliest attack on the Jewish people since World War II, which was also a war against the Jews that culminated in the Holocaust. The Israel Defense Forces are now in Gaza aiming to cripple Hamas’s military capabilities, and it’s a challenging mission. To discuss, host Cliff May is joined by three FDD experts: Bradley Bowman, Hussain Abdul-Hussain, and Retired Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel (former commander in chief of the Israeli Air Force).

They talk about the status of Israel's ground operation inside Gaza, including why forces are current concentrated in the northern part of the Strip; 
how the IDF might deal with Hamas' extensive system of underground tunnels; 
what happened at Al Shifa Hospital and why Hamas is using ambulances; 
if there's a difference between a ceasefire and 'humanitarian pause' as well as Israel's conditions for agreeing to the former; 
how Israel's Arab neighbors are reacting to the war; 
Saudi Arabia's interception of missiles fired by Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen at Israel — and other related issues.

Two of the world's top experts on human rights join host Cliff May to discuss the October 7 massacre in Israel — the atrocity carried out by Hamas and backed by Iran’s jihadi rulers — and about all that has followed since, in the Middle East, the US, Canada, and elsewhere. 

They discuss inaction by the United Nations and other international bodies charged with championing human rights not just in the aftermath of 10/7 but throughout recent history, a refresher on why calling Israel an apartheid state is incorrect,  a review of modern genocidal affronts across the international community (made not least of all by the Islamic Republic of Iran and its surrogates), defining the indigeneity of the Jewish people, and more. 

Irwin Cotler

Irwin is a near-legendary champion of human rights. He’s carried out that mission as an attorney specializing in international law, as Canada’s minister of justice, attorney general, a member of Parliament, a law professor, and International Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, an organization he founded.

He served as counsel to Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky, anti-apartheid activist and former South African President Africa Nelson Mandela, the Tutsi people of Rwanda, and many others both famous and not so famous.

Last week in Washington, he was awarded the Tom Lantos Human Rights Prize.

Orde Kittrie

Orde is a senior fellow at FDD and a law professor at Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. He also wrote the book Lawfare: Law as a Weapon of War, published by Oxford University Press.

It is the opinion of your Foreign Podicy host, Cliff May, that Andrew Roberts is the world’s greatest living historian.

In recent years, he has written groundbreaking biographies of Churchill, Napoleon, and King George. 

He’s a Bradley Prize winner, and Cliff is the one who nominated him. However, Cliff was outdone by His Majesty Charles the Third, as Andrew is now Lord Andrew Roberts — the sovereign has conferred upon him the title of Baron Roberts of Belgravia.

Lord Andrew Roberts joins Cliff to discuss his most recent book, co-authored with retired General David Petraeus, "Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine.” This New York Times best-seller reached bookstores as the war between Hamas and Israel entered its second week. 

Hamas' terrorist attack on Israel has led to war. We have to think that’s what Hamas and its patrons in Tehran expected and very likely wanted.

Is that because they believe they can win on the Gazan battlefields? Does Hezbollah, Tehran’s Lebanese foreign legion, plan to open a second front?

Or do Israel’s many enemies in the Middle East, Europe, and here in America believe they can make Israel back off, agree to a ceasefire, and let Hamas live to kill Jews another day?

What are Israel’s options? What are the tradeoffs?

To discuss these and other questions — and attempt to penetrate the fog of war a little — host Cliff May is joined by FDD Senior Advisor Richard Goldberg; Bradley Bowman, Senior Director of FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power; and RADM (Ret) Mark Montgomery, Senior Fellow and Senior Director of FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation.

Israel is at war with Hamas — a real war, not another “mow the grass” conflict.

Hamas is one of the terrorist groups funded, armed, trained and instructed by the Islamic Republic of Iran.

This war began on Saturday, October 7 when Israel was invaded by Hamas barbarians who mass-murdered young people attending a peaceful music festival, raped women, slaughtered babies, and took hostages, dragging them back to dungeons in Gaza. The list of Hamas atrocities and war crimes goes on and on.

Over the days since, Hezbollah, Tehran’s Lebanon-based foreign legion, has been probing Israel’s northern defenses. Another front could open.

To discuss, host Cliff May is joined by FDD Chief Executive Mark Dubowitz, FDD Senior Vice President for Research Jonathan Schanzer, and FDD Senior International Fellow Eyal Hulata, a former Israeli national security advisor and former head of Israel’s National Security Council.

Americans, our elected officials in Congress, and individuals aspiring to be the next U.S. president are debating whether the United States should continue to support Ukraine. Some Republican presidential candidates are arguing against aid for Ukraine, while several others warn that abandoning Ukraine would be a costly mistake. In Congress, Republican leaders of key committees continue to support aid for Ukraine, but a vocal minority faction of the Republican party in the House of Representatives that opposes aid for Ukraine seems to be growing.

To complicate matters, Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian forces is going more slowly than many hoped, and the battlefield outcome remains uncertain.

In short, Ukraine is in the balance and Americans have questions.

To get answers, Brad Bowman (Senior Director of FDD’s Center for Military and Political Power, filling in for host Cliff May) is joined by Celeste Wallander.

Celeste serves as the Biden Administration’s Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs in the Pentagon. Previously, she served in the Obama administration’s National Security Council from 2013 to 2017 as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Russia and Central Asia. She’s a longtime Russia scholar, former professor at Harvard and Georgetown University, and the author of more than 80 publications.

“What’s past is prologue,” Shakespeare informed us. But what if the past is misunderstood? Or misrepresented?

 What if policy makers are making policies based on false historical narratives?

In 1979, host Cliff May went to Iran to report on the revolution that was then underway. Cliff admits that he didn’t know much about the country. But neither did most of his colleagues, reporters from around the world who had parachuted in to cover this big story.

 He was working on a documentary for PBS which had arranged for him to partner with an Iranian producer.  So, at least the producer was knowledgeable, right? Well, yes and no.

He was gung-ho for the revolution and an ardent admirer of its leader: the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. In other words, he was not a truth-seeking journalist but an enthusiastic propagandist. So, this turned out to be a challenging assignment for Cliff.

All these many years later, Ray Takeyh – the Hasib J. Sabbagh senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations – is trying to understand and reveal the truth about modern Iranian history.

He’s well suited to the task: He holds a doctorate in modern history from Oxford University and has served as a senior advisor on Iran at the State Department. He joins Cliff for today's discussion. 

Also joining: Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former Iranian-targets officer in the Central Intelligence Agency, currently a resident scholar at FDD.