Democrats in Congress remain divided over arms sales to Israel, AIPAC, and whether to call Israel’s conduct in Gaza a genocide. On issues concerning the West Bank, however, a consensus is forming. Democratic lawmakers have rallied behind five measures concerning settler violence and settlement expansion: the West Bank Violence Prevention Act, introduced in both chambers to restore the Biden-era sanctions that President Trump revoked; a Senate resolution demanding a State Department report on Israeli human rights practices in the West...
Changes in Lebanon’s leadership and Hezbollah’s weakened position following the war with Israel appear to have created an opportunity to shift the country’s internal balance of power through extensive aid to revive its economy and strengthen its sovereignty. Beyond the challenges posed by Lebanon’s deep systemic economic crisis, the main concern is that aid could also benefit Hezbollah, which is firmly embedded in Lebanon’s deep state and its security and civil institutions. The main conclusion of this article is that Lebanon...
Between September 23 and 25, Chinese President Xi Jinping made a state visit to Washington—his second meeting this year with President Donald Trump. The visit was marked by elaborate ceremony and modest deliverables that buy both leaders time ahead of their upcoming political challenges: a brief extension of the trade war truce, new dialogue mechanisms, a joint statement on Iran, and the scheduling of two additional meetings before the year’s end. The two superpowers are managing their rivalry through a differentiated approach:...
The war with Iran has sharpened the tension between the objectives of U.S. policy in the Middle East. Washington seeks to reduce its permanent military presence in the region and transfer greater responsibility to its allies, yet finds itself compelled to commit substantial military resources to address the ramifications of the war and preserve regional stability. The campaign illustrates that reducing the permanent deployment of forces does not guarantee a reduction in the costs of U.S. involvement, particularly when crises require...
This article examines how political parties confront antisemitism among candidates and elected officials and analyzes the tools available to them in determining the boundaries of political legitimacy. Focusing on the case study of the British Labour Party, the article demonstrates how Britain’s centralized party structure and external regulatory oversight made it possible to treat antisemitism within the party not as a collection of individual incidents, but as a phenomenon governed by institutional accountability. By contrast, the...
The BRICS summit held in New Delhi in September 2026 demonstrated the organization’s gradual evolution from a forum based primarily on declarations and political and economic coordination into a framework that is also developing practical mechanisms in technology, industry, health, agriculture, and space. For China, this process carries additional significance: BRICS enables it to advance ideas and initiatives originating in Beijing within a multilateral framework it does not control, thereby contributing to the internationalization...
The rapid development of artificial intelligence capabilities is broadening the way China defines the risks posed by this technology. Alongside espionage, cyber threats, and familiar national security threats, Beijing is increasingly addressing the risks originating from advanced AI systems themselves—including autonomous operation and loss of control. At the same time, technological lag and dependence on foreign technologies are also perceived as risks to national security. Official publications from September 2026 show that...
Gaza’s social media discourse has recently shown a clear shift regarding the disarmament of Hamas. Once an ideological symbol whose relinquishment was seen as surrender, the issue has become the subject of pragmatic debate about the benefits of continuing the armed struggle weighed against the heavy price Gaza’s population is paying. The online debate falls into three main approaches: (1) Hamas’s critics, who support disarmament as a necessary step toward ending the war, preventing displacement, and beginning Gaza’s reconstruction,...
On October 15, 2026, the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) held a hybrid workshop, bringing together human experts and artificial intelligence to evaluate four alternatives for addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Continued conflict management – within an evolving framework and adjusting to developments on the ground.
The "Decisive Plan" – applying Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, dismantling the Palestinian Authority, and encouraging Palestinian emigration from the area.
A comprehensive...
In a recent expert discussion held in Tehran marking 46 years since the outbreak of the Iran–Iraq War, three Iranian researchers discussed the lessons of Khomeini’s decision to accept a ceasefire in July 1988 and their implications for the current conflict with the United States. The researchers pointed to Iran’s difficulty in defining achievable political goals and ending wars; the danger of overestimating its capabilities and missing diplomatic opportunities; and the impact of revolutionary ideology on the willingness to...
Recent public opinion polls conducted among the Palestinian public indicate a significant weakening of the “resistance is winning” narrative and reflect a profound conceptual shift. This shift moves the center of gravity from supporting Hamas’s strategy of resistance toward a pragmatic approach that is acutely aware of its costs.
This process of disillusionment is evident in the unprecedented drop in support for “armed struggle” as an effective means of achieving national goals, alongside a surge in...
While global attention has been focused in recent months on Hormuz, the battle over the Arabian Peninsula’s second chokepoint, Bab al-Mandab, is rapidly escalating. The intensifying war in Yemen and the heightened Houthi threat to shipping in the Red Sea no longer constitute a separate arena, but rather another front in the regional war with Iran. Saudi Arabia finds itself in an hour of crisis and extraordinary strategic predicament: Hormuz is disrupted to the east, the East-West pipeline has been damaged, the Houthis are attacking...
