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...
The victory of Dr. Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan’s 2026 Senate primary has been widely viewed as evidence that the Democratic Party is shifting sharply leftward on Israel. This report evaluates that claim by classifying all 259 Democratic incumbents in Congress, along with viable Democratic candidates for safe and contested seats in the upcoming November elections, into three factions. Classification drew on three sets of indicators, including each member’s stance on military aid to Israel, rhetoric used to describe Israel,...
The Trump administration’s announcement of “Operation Economic Outcast” marks a transition to a new phase in the campaign against Iran. After roughly six months of fighting, during which Tehran suffered severe damage, the full picture of the campaign remains incomplete: maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has not returned to normal, and the nuclear issue remains unresolved. In light of this, Washington is seeking to shift the center of gravity: relying less on further expansion of the military campaign and leaning...
The nuclear agreement signed between the United States and Saudi Arabia marks a turning point in American nuclear policy and carries broad implications for the regional security architecture. After years in which Washington conditioned any nuclear cooperation on forgoing fuel-cycle capabilities, it is now adopting a more flexible approach that seeks to manage proliferation risks rather than prevent them entirely. In doing so, the agreement creates a significant precedent and raises questions regarding the future of the Nuclear...
The confrontation between the United States and Iran surrounding the Strait of Hormuz has entered a more dangerous phase than before. The American move, which initially focused on targeting maritime and military infrastructure in the area of Bandar Abbas and applying concentrated pressure on Tehran, has expanded following the Iranian response against vessels, U.S. military bases, and the Gulf states. Washington seeks to combine cumulative military pressure with maintaining an open diplomatic channel; to deny Iran the ability to turn...
The U.S. House of Representatives voted yesterday to reject an amendment that would immediately end $3.3 billion in promised annual foreign military funding to Israel. Approximately half of the Democratic Party—a plurality of the party’s members—voted in favor of the measure. Although the proposal to end the aid failed due to opposition from the Republican Party and the other half of the Democrats, the significant share of members who supported it reflects the deep rift in the Democratic Party’s relationship with Israel. This...
The current U.S. administration is advancing a major deal, valued at over $700 million, to sell F110 engines to Turkey for its KAAN aircraft project. Despite the administration’s attempts to bypass congressional barriers, this move is not an isolated event; rather, it is a strategic accelerator intended to pave the way for Ankara’s full return to the F-35 program. While Washington’s rationale seeks to preserve Turkey as an anchor within NATO, in practice, it creates a serious dilemma and presents a weighty,...
The Democratic Party’s 2026 congressional primaries have become a major contest between its mainstream and progressive wings, with U.S. policy toward Israel and the role of AIPAC emerging as defining fault lines. Progressives — buoyed by high-profile upsets in New York, New Jersey, California, and Colorado — have made opposition to the U.S.-Israel alliance a de- facto litmus test. Their victories are concentrated in deep-blue districts and the higher-stakes question is whether their anti-Israel positioning proves to be an asset...
In 2026, Israel is militarily stronger than it was in 2023. Yet despite its military achievements, as well as its economic resilience and the endurance demonstrated by the home front in the face of security threats, it finds itself at one of the lowest strategic points in its history. Israel is caught in what can be described as a “strategic limbo” — a prolonged state of stagnation in which impressive tactical military achievements, along with unprecedented military cooperation with the United States, are not translated into a...
Until now, American support for Israel has often been understood through a party lens: Democrats were becoming more critical, while Republicans remained reliably supportive. That framework is no longer sufficient. Older pro-Israel assumptions are weakening not only among Democrats, but also within parts of the Republican coalition. Views of Israel are increasingly shaped by religion, generation, nationalism, and competing ideas about America’s role in the world. Israel therefore needs a more segmented approach to American Christians...
The Israeli strike in Beirut following Hezbollah’s rocket fire on northern Israel, and the subsequent round of exchanges between Israel and Iran, illustrate both the complexity of the American effort to curb escalation and Israel’s challenge of separating the Lebanese arena from Iran. The Trump administration sought to advance a renewed agreement between Israel and Lebanon, strengthen the Lebanese government, restrict Hezbollah’s freedom of action, and preserve maneuver space regarding Tehran. However, it failed to prevent an...
Israel’s international standing has suffered severe damage in the wake of the Gaza war. This decline is evident across most areas of national life—the economy, academia, culture, the security of Jewish communities in the diaspora, and most essentially – the basic legitimacy of the State of Israel and its right to defend itself. Attempts to isolate Israel are not new. They are rooted in disagreements over the appropriate resolution of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, ideological opposition to Israel’s existence, and internal...
