Podcasts

While Israel’s attention is focused on Iran’s proxies in the Middle East (the most recent example being Israel’s aerial attack on the Houthis in Yemen in response to the Tel Aviv drone attack), it seems that Tehran has been expanding its activities in Africa and increasing the threat to Israeli interests on the continent. In a new INSS insight titled “Iran in the Continent of Africa,” Danny Citrinowicz, a research fellow in the Iran Program at INSS, elaborates on the threats to Israel’s fundamental political, security, and economic interests in this region. In this program, Adi Kantor, an INSS researcher, sits down with Citrinowicz to discuss Iran’s fundamental interests in Africa. What is new in relation to Iranian activity in Africa in recent years? Why is Sudan a significant Iranian destination for the transfer of military equipment, and what does it indicate about Iranian intentions in the future? Is the election of a new president in Iran supposed to change Iranian policy? What should Israel do to prevent the growing Iranian influence in Africa?

In December Morocco became the fourth Arab state in four months to reach an agreement with Israel (after the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan) under US auspices. While this is a welcome development, seeing as Israelis can (and do!) regularly travel to Morocco, despite the lack of formal diplomatic relations between the states, what change can the new agreement be expected to deliver? What are the gains and what is the price that the deal combines for stakeholders? How is it being perceived internationally, regionally and locally? And given Morocco’s King Mohamed VI role in establishing and chairing the Al-Quds Committee of the OIC (Organization of Islamic Conference) can we expect to see active Moroccan involvement in future Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on the core issue of Jerusalem? Find out the answers to these questions and more in the conversation between two INSS Research Fellows, as Dr. Michal Hatuel-Radoshitzky interviews Dr. Sarah Feuer.

INSS Deputy Director Itai Brun hosts a special podcast following the update of the Institute’s strategic assessment for 2020, in the wake of both the coronavirus pandemic and the establishment of Israel’s new government after more than a year of political deadlock. INSS Managing Director Udi Dekel, together with INSS researchers Sima Shine, Assaf Orion, Orna Mizrahi, Meir Elran, Sarah Feuer, and Carmit Valensi provide a comprehensive review on the international system and the Middle East, which have been rocked by the virus, and will offer their recommendations to the new government.

In recent weeks, the protests sweeping across Iraq and Lebanon have led observers of the Middle East to surmise that the region may be experiencing a second Arab Spring. Indeed, the unrest in Lebanon and Iraq comes on the heels of protests in Egypt and Jordan earlier this fall, and joins a protest movement in Algeria that has continued since February. What lies behind the latest round of social unrest? How do the protests in Iraq and Lebanon compare to one another, and to protests in North Africa? And what distinguishes the latest wave of demonstrations from the 2011 uprisings? INSS research fellows Dr. Sarah Feuer and Orit Perlov sit down to discuss the significance of the current upheaval, possible trajectories moving forward, and implications for Israel.

Some eight years after what came to be known in Israel as the regional “upheaval,” and elsewhere as “the Arab Spring,” Brig. Gen. (ret.) Itai Brun and Dr. Sarah Feuer sit down to discuss the political contours of the Middle East and North Africa today. Drawing on a recent article written with INSS Neubauer research associate Itay Haiminis, they offer a framework of competing hypotheses for understanding the current state of affairs across the region, and demonstrate the framework’s utility in assessing unfolding developments in Libya and Algeria. They close with a discussion of the policy dilemmas and choices Israel has confronted in light of the region’s unrest.

Approaching the 8th anniversary of the uprisings that swept the region in what came to be known as the “Arab Spring,” INSS research fellows Sarah Feuer and Orit Perlov sit down to take stock and review key elements of the region’s current political, security, and economic landscapes. Surveying developments in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia, Feuer and Perlov highlight noteworthy trends in the arenas of women’s rights, electoral politics, and political Islam across the Middle East and North Africa. The researchers conclude by discussing some of the implications of the Arab Spring for Israel, addressing new threats and opportunities emerging from the tumult of 2011.