Iranian nuclear ambitions, the Hamas-Israel conflict, Red Sea shipping crisis, a rogue Türkiye, growing Chinese influence: as usual, the United States and its allies face many major problems in the Middle East. How can Americans develop a comprehensive and intelligible policy? How do the U.S. presidential elections impact regional calculations? What can be learned from past, bitter experience?

John Bolton is an attorney, diplomat, author and political commentator. He served as the 25th United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006, and as the 26th United States National Security Advisor from 2018 to 2019. He is the author of The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir (Simon & Schuster, 2020). Mr. Bolton holds a BA and a JD from Yale University.

Through the Cold War, 1945-90, Washington pursued a successful Middle East policy that kept the Soviets out, oil flowing, and Israel secure. From 1990 until now, however, overambitious policies aimed at fundamentally reshaping the region have resulted in recurring failure and ongoing instability. What are key U.S. interests now? How can Washington get its Middle East mojo back? What can it learn from earlier successes?

Steven A. Cook is Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. His talk is based on his book, The End of Ambition: America’s Past, Present, and Future in the Middle East (Oxford University Press, 2024). Mr. Cook holds a BA in international studies from Vassar College, an MA in international relations from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, and an MA and a PhD in political science from the University of Pennsylvania.

Ever since Australia voted in favor of the UN Partition Plan for Palestine in 1947, it has given strong bi-partisan support to Israel. But recent signs suggest this has changed under the Labor government headed by Anthony Albanese since May 2022. What has caused this shift? Has something major happened? Where are things headed?

Joel Burnie is the executive manager at the Australia-Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, known as AIJAC. His prior positions have included president of the Australasian Union of Jewish Students and working for the Zionist Federation of Australia. He holds a BA and a JD, both from Monash University.

The current protests on US campuses uncannily resemble the rallies and demonstrations that marked the revolutionary era of Iran. In 1978, Iranian universities, long sites of political ferment, became staging grounds for anti government activities and operations. Students demonstrated in Teheran, chanting ‘Marg Bar Shah’ - death to the Shah. It was Iranian students who invaded the US Embassy in Teheran in 1979, taking 63 Americans hostage. Ayatollah Khomeini promised to export the Islamic Revolution around the world. Forty-five years later, has he finally succeeded in realizing his ambition?

Roya Hakakian is an author, journalist, and a fellow at Yale University’s Davenport College. She is a founding member of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, and serves on the board of Refugees International. Her memoir, Journey from the Land of No : A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran,  appeared in 2005 (Crown). She is a graduate of Brooklyn College in New York.

One thing became clear following Oct. 7 as campuses across the United States erupted with extreme and sometimes violent hostility against Israel and the United States as well as many instances of intimidation, harassment, and disruption to silence pro-Israel voices: students and faculty from the Middle East had a disproportionate role. This phenomenon points to a quiet revolution underway in higher education: the internationalization of American universities. Where is this heading? How can academia deal effectively with it? What can the public and the government do?

Neetu Arnold, a research fellow at the National Association of Scholars, has written on education issues for The Wall Street Journal, Tablet, National Review, and other publications. She holds a BSc from Cornell University.

On the 30th anniversary of the Oslo Accords, Daniel Pipes recalls the great expectations that agreement created. He then reviews twelve Israeli errors that turned them into disaster and concludes by reviewing which lessons were or were not learned.

Daniel Pipes, a historian, has led the Middle East Forum since its founding in 1994. He taught at Chicago, Harvard, Pepperdine, and the U.S. Naval War College. He served in five U.S. administrations and has written sixteen books. He received both his A.B. and Ph.D. from Harvard.

Over the past decade, Bangladeshi Islamists have murdered dozens of anti-Islamist activists and intellectuals. For years, they have also targeted Asad Noor, an atheist, former Muslim, and human rights activist who fled his native Bangladesh due to persecution following statements he made about Muhammad, Islam, and the oppression of religious minorities. This campaign recently escalated, as Islamists in France and the UK called for killing Noor. Does this mark a new confidence of Bangladeshi Islamism in the West? How should Westerners respond? And what does Asad Noor himself have to say back to them?

Asad Noor was imprisoned in Bangladesh on charges of blasphemy, causing him to flee the country in 2019 and live in hiding. He has written prolifically about the abuse of religious minorities in Bangladesh and has warned Westerners about the threat of Islamism. Mr. Noor holds a diploma in electronics technology from the Sylhet Polytechnic Institute in northeastern Bangladesh.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has been a central source of instability globally since it came to power in 1979; but do Westerners comprehend the ideology that drives the mullahs and the strategies they deploy to undermine their enemies’ security? Have attempts (such as the JCPOA) to restrain Iranian bellicosity inadvertently compromised democratic values? What is the correct policy toward Tehran?

Catherine Perez-Shakdam is the co-founder and director of Forward Strategy, and a research fellow at the American Center for Levant Studies.  She is a prominent expert in the Middle East, particularly in the domains of Iran and Yemen. She has played a crucial role in shaping policy decisions by providing invaluable insights into Yemen’s War Economy, uncovering the intricate web of corruption, trafficking, and money laundering. Catherine is best known for infiltrating the Islamic Republic of Iran and reaching the regime’s highest echelons. She holds an MA in finance, and an MA in communications.

The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement has become a powerful force in the United States, working to isolate Israel and its American supporters. Although BDS raises Constitutional questions, it does have First Amendment protection. That being the case, how can opponents of BDS effectively fight the movement? What other legal tactics exist? How best to expose its harmful nature?

Eugene Volokh is a professor of First Amendment law at the UCLA School of Law. He is the author of two textbooks, The First Amendment and Related Statutes (7th ed. 2020), and Academic Legal Writing (5th ed. 2016). Mr. Volokh is a former clerk for Judge Alex Kosinski on the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. He holds a BSc in mathematics and computer science, and a JD, both from UCLA.