Communications

The election of Donald J. Trump to the presidency brought relief to many Arab regimes. Before the elections, senior Arab officials were cautious about expressing a preference for any candidate, for obvious reasons, but it is believed that many favored Trump over Kamala Harris. Trump’s re-election is good news for Arab states but in many ways also for Israel. Here is why.

INSS senior researcher Ofir Winter spoke about the impact the Muslim Brotherhood has had on Israel-Jordanian relations, highlighting the group's unprecedented gain in winning of 31 out of 138 parliamentary seats in the 2024 elections. “While the Brotherhood historically was integrated into and co-opted by Jordan’s political and social system, its recent electoral success in...

Marking three decades since the signing of the Israel-Jordan peace treaty on October 26, 1994, scholars, diplomats, and policymakers gathered at Tel Aviv’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). The event featured speakers who contributed to the treaty’s negotiation and implementation, examining its achievements and the impact of recent conflicts on Israeli-Jordanian...

When Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Cairo last week to chair the annual U.S.-Egypt Strategic Dialogue, one of his main goals was to advance the stalled ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel. A key sticking point in those talks is the disposition of the Philadelphia Corridor, a narrow portion of the Gaza Strip that runs along the border with Egypt....

Iran in particular is especially trying to consolidate its presence and its militias in Jordan. Beni Sabti, researcher in the Iran Program at Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) says, "For decades, from the beginning of the revolution, the Iranian regime made it a point to attack the secular-monarchical regimes - Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and...

Notwithstanding the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, and perhaps even because of it, diplomatic contacts aimed at advancing a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia have continued. The fundamental motivations of the United States and Saudi Arabia in this context have not changed since before October 7.

Without an understanding between the two countries about how the war will unfold, relations will continue to deteriorate, said Ofir Winter, an expert on Israel-Egypt ties at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. “Israel needs Egypt as a mediator in the hostages’ exchange deal, and it will need it to stabilize the situation in Gaza in any future scenario...

Israel's 'go it alone' strategy has had a rude awakening: it needs far more backing from the US and Arab allies to confront Iran and its malevolent partners, including Hamas and Hezbollah. Biden's post-war plan offers that lifeline, but there's one more element the president should add.

The State of Israel is facing one of its most challenging periods, both in terms of its international standing and its domestic situation. It is difficult to envision an improvement in this reality without taking decisive decisions in response to the array of challenges it faces. At the same time, continued indecision will hinder the achievement of the objectives of the war...

As part of the preparations for the day after the war in Gaza, the United States is working toward a normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel and an active involvement of Riyadh in the Gaza Strip. In Israel there is a similar expectation that moderate Arab states – the code name for the UAE and Saudi Arabia – would be more involved in Gaza and lead the...