James M. Dorsey, at The Blogs

Apr 26, 2025, 4:00 PM

Crunch time may be approaching for Netanyahu

The coming days will tell whether it’s crunch time for Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The litmus test will be whether US President Donald J. Trump forces Mr. Netanyahu to lift his almost two-months-long blocking of the flow of humanitarian...

Apr 21, 2025, 4:46 PM

Hamas and Netanyahu bet on each other’s unpopularity

This week’s Gazan anti-Hamas protests demanding an end to the war could prove to be a double-edged sword. There is no doubt that Gazans want to see an end to the further devastation of their already war-ravaged Strip, the killing...

Apr 19, 2025, 9:03 PM

Vietnam looms large in Gaza

Hamas has Israel where it wants it. The group’s insistence that ending the war be part of any ceasefire deal and refusal to disarm strengthens its position. To be sure, Israel has severely weakened Hamas militarily. To be sure, Israel has...

Apr 12, 2025, 1:12 PM

Whither Trump’s Gaza resettlement plan?

As he embarked on a Middle East tour, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto this week offered to accept an estimated 1,000 wounded Gazan Palestinians and “traumatized, orphaned children.” Mr. Prabowo, the leader of the Muslim world’s most populous country and democracy,...

Apr 8, 2025, 11:44 AM

Israel’s Gaza strategy is doomed to fail

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s multi-pronged strategy to crush the Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation by destroying Hamas is doomed to failure with or without the potential expulsion or departure of Gazans. Eighteen months into the Gaza war, Israel has...

Apr 6, 2025, 10:40 AM

Mr. Netanyahu goes to Washington

This week, US President Donald J. Trump put Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on a pedal stool for the second time since he returned to the Oval Office two months ago. In February, Mr. Netanyahu became the first foreign leader...

Apr 3, 2025, 4:47 PM

The Israeli-Palestinian battle of the narratives

Israeli journalist Zvi Yehezkeli pinpointed the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as he reflected on a post-interview conversation with Yasser Arafat, the late chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), more than two decades ago. A one-time secular security official...

Mar 30, 2025, 4:49 PM

Gaza’s anti-Hamas protests mean different things to different players

The United Arab Emirates is betting that recent anti-Hamas protests in Gazan towns, supported by influential tribes and clans, will strengthen Abu Dhabi-based Mohammed Dahlan’s chances of playing a prominent role in the territory’s post-war administration. Protesters suggested they focussed...

Mar 27, 2025, 10:11 PM

Whither the Israel-Hamas ceasefire?

Israelis and Palestinians have moved in diametrically opposed and mutually exclusive cycles for much of the past six decades. A significant segment of Israeli society favored until the late 1970s, a compromise solution to the conflict with the Palestinians even...

Mar 25, 2025, 11:50 AM

Reading tea leaves: Is the US signalling potential differences with Israel?

A stickler for language, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu twice this month remained conspicuously silent when senior Trump administration officials chose words that signalled potential changes in US policy towards Gaza, the Palestinians, and Hamas. Mr. Netanyahu may not want...

About Me

Dr. James M. Dorsey is an award-winning journalist and scholar and an Adjunct Senior Fellow at Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. He is the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer.