Podcasts

On this week’s episode of the National Security Podcast, Nicole Zedeck and former Israeli Ambassador to Egypt Amira Oron from the Institute for National Security Studies explore Egypt’s role as a mediator in the Gaza conflict, its strategy for the day after, and how it envisions the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Can Egypt bridge the gap between Israel’s military objectives and regional diplomacy? How does Cairo balance its strategic relationship with Israel amid domestic pressures? And how important for Israel is the peace treaty with Egypt?

INSS researcher Ofir Winter spoke with Dalia Ziada, an Egyptian writer specializing in security studies and geopolitics, and the Executive Director of MEEM Center for Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean Studies. Ziada said that Israel is now fighting Hamas not on behalf of itself alone, but on behalf of the entire region. Furthermore, Israel is doing what every other country in the world would do if its citizens were attacked during a holiday and were killed in their own houses. She also explained the reasons for Egypt’s concern regarding hosting displaced citizens from Gaza, envisioned what a region without Hamas might look like, and suggested steps Israel should take to better explain its position to its Arab neighbors.

في إطار مقابلة مع د. أوفير وينتر، الباحث في معهد دراسات الأمن القومي في جامعة تل أبيب، تحدثت داليا زيادة، الكاتبة المصرية المتخصصة في الدراسات الأمنية والجيوسياسية، ومديرة مركز ميم لدراسات الشرق الأوسط وشرق المتوسط، حول الأوضاع الراهنة في غزة والتحديات التي تواجه المنطقة. قالت زيادة إن حماس مسؤولة مسؤولية كاملة عما يحدث الان في غزة وعن قيام هذه الحرب أصلا من أساسها، واعتبرت بإنها حرب تخوضها إسرائيل ضد الإرهاب بالنيابة عن الشرق الأوسط. كما أوضحت زيادة أسباب رغبة حماس في عرقلة التطبيع بين إسرائيل والسعودية، ونقاط التشابه بينها وبين داعش، وسُبل التقدم نحو حلاً سياسيًا عادلاً للجانبين الفلسطيني والإسرائيلي بعد الحرب.

This episode features a discussion based on the research and personal experience of Haisam Hassanain, an Egyptian PhD candidate at Tel Aviv University. Why, from his perspective, after so many years of cooperation and trust building, has the peace between Israel and Egypt has not become a “warm peace,” with warm relations, not only between the leaders, but between the Egyptian and the Israeli societies? What is Haissam’s personal experience from discovering the “real” Israel? What most surprised him about Israeli society and culture? What feeds the Egyptian public’s hatred toward Israel, and what could be the solutions, from both sides? How could United States involvement in the area help? More about Israel-Egypt relations will emerge in the upcoming conference “Between Jerusalem and Cairo: 40 Years to the Israel-Egypt Peace Agreement” on Thursday, March 14, at Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi in Jerusalem. The conference is sponsored by INSS, Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi, the Menachem Begin Heritage Center, and the Foreign Ministry.

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.