INSS Insight

The recent transit of the Istanbul Bridge, a China-linked container ship, through the Russian-controlled Northern Sea Route (NSR) marks an important milestone in the history of Arctic navigation. The vessel departed from the Port of Ningbo on September 22, 2025, and arrived at Felixstowe, United Kingdom, on October 13, 2025. It was the first liner service to traverse the Northern Sea Route (NSR). It demonstrated that the NSR could potentially become part of global container shipping networks, linking Asian manufacturing centers to...

The scope of Jewish terrorism against Palestinians living in Judea and Samaria has evolved from marginal, localized incidents into a widespread phenomenon occurring within the broader struggle for control of the area and a growing effort to uproot the Palestinian presence, primarily from Area C. The number and scale of violent attacks have increased in recent years, with greater intensity since October 7, 2023. Despite this, the Israeli government and the security establishment—including the Judea and Samaria District of the Israel...

The possibility of a military confrontation between the United States and Iran poses weighty dilemmas for the Gulf states. On the one hand, they fear Iranian attacks on energy facilities, water-desalination plants, and US bases on their territory, as well as on oil and gas export routes from the Gulf. On the other hand, they are concerned about the consequences of a collapse of the Iranian regime, whose patterns of behavior are well known. From their perspective, a weakened and restrained Iranian regime is preferable to potential...

The foundations of the Islamic Republic have, since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, been anchored in the concept of the rule of the jurist (velayat-e faqih), shaped in the spirit of the vision of the revolution’s architect, Ruhollah Khomeini. His death in 1989 necessitated a clear deviation from this principle since none of his loyal disciples possessed sufficiently high religious standing to succeed him. The appointment of Ali Khamenei as Iran’s supreme leader—made possible by an amendment to the Iranian constitution—heralded the...

About a year after Ahmed al-Sharaa rose to power, a renewed rapprochement between Russia and Syria—particularly in the security sphere—has become apparent. This follows an initial period of suspicion and caution, reflecting a combination of diplomatic appeasement efforts by Moscow and Damascus’s recognition of the security threats facing Syria. In recent months, intensive dialogue has taken place between the two countries’ defense ministries and armed forces, including discussions on assistance to rehabilitate the Syrian army and on...

Three weeks after the outbreak of a wave of unrest across Iran—which has claimed thousands of lives and led to the arrest of thousands more—the US administration faces a series of operational decisions in light of threats issued by President Trump toward the regime in Tehran. The president’s threats began with a public statement that the United States would come “to rescue” the protesters if the regime continued to employ lethal violence against them. This escalated with an additional tweet on January 13 in which he wrote that “help...

On January 15, 2021, the Pentagon announced the transfer of Israel from the area of responsibility of the US European Command (EUCOM) to that of the US Central Command (CENTCOM). This move marked a substantive shift in the security perception of both the United States and Israel regarding the Middle East. Five years after the transfer, and in the shadow of the October 7 war, this article examines the move through the prism of regional security doctrine and concludes that Israel’s integration into CENTCOM has been demonstrated to be a...

This article analyzes Islamic discourse among institutions and clerics associated with Syria’s new regime. The discourse reflects fundamentally hostile positions toward Israel and rejects peace with it; however, it is neither uniform nor static. Alongside rigid Islamist ideological expressions—most of which emerged in response to Israeli military activity in Syria—over the past year, there has also been a noticeable softening in tone and frequency. This trend does not indicate a deep ideological shift or the groundwork for full...

Knowledge bias on English Wikipedia and political tendentiousness in discourse surrounding sensitive topics have generated growing criticism, manifested, among other things, in the rise of digital alternatives such as Grokipedia and Justapedia. This article offers a qualitative case study of how the encyclopedic entry on Zionism is designed and framed across the three platforms, highlighting differences in emphasis and narrative structure. Focusing on the opening sentences, the analysis examines four axes of comparison: the implied...

This article analyzes Israel’s strategic maneuvering space in the Gaza Strip in 2026. In the background are the Trump administration’s determination to implement the Gaza framework and Hamas’s recovery as long as the momentum for change is delayed. Israel faces a dilemma between two main alternatives: The first seeks to fully realize the demilitarization option in accordance with the Trump framework, which would require Israel to show flexibility regarding the conditions for the return of the Palestinian Authority to the Strip; a...

Clausewitz’s well-known saying—“War is nothing but the continuation of policy by other means”—continues to echo in the public sphere. Researcher Gal Finkel (Ma’arachot, September 2021) and former Knesset member, researcher, and journalist Ofer Shelah, in several recent remarks, have underscored its relevance to Israel’s wars: War is not an end or a goal but merely a means of achieving a political objective. Clausewitz wrote for his time, when war was conducted between regular armies and intended to realize monarchical interests of...

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and, to a more limited extent, Qatar bet on artificial intelligence as capable of replacing oil and gas in the future as a source of economic growth, regime stability, global power, and security relevance. By establishing computing infrastructure, forming partnerships with global technology giants, and developing large-scale human capital, the Gulf states aspire to control a significant share of global AI production and deployment alongside the major powers while acquiring independent...