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Oct 15, 2023, 12:15 PM

That October, and This One…

For Israel, October 7 is, a day that will figure in the imagination like December 7 does for Americans. Hamas' timing of the invasion was surely not accidental. This Simhat Torah holiday fell one day and fifty years after...

Oct 12, 2023, 10:02 PM

‘A date that will live in infamy’

October 7, 2023, is a date that will live in infamy. Over 1,000 Israelis were killed, the vast majority of them non-combatants. Entire families, senior citizens, babies, children, women and men were exterminated in an orgy of anti-Semitic violence....

Sep 28, 2023, 4:42 PM

A Long, Hot Summer for Eastern Mediterranean Gas Politics

In the past month, there has been a flurry of diplomatic activity between countries that, typically, don’t get along: Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, and Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met in New York with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu...

Apr 3, 2023, 7:56 PM

Netanyahu’s ‘Full-On Right’ Government and Gulf Normalization

The new Israeli government’s policies will probably not lead to the suspension of the Abraham Accords by those states whom already joined. However, according to various knowledgeable sources in the Gulf, it may lead to a slowdown of steps...

May 28, 2021, 12:14 PM

A Wave of ‘Smile Offensives’ in the Middle East: Why, and How Real?

Regional power politics in the Middle East have, since the Arab Uprisings of 2011-13, played out on two overlapping axes. The older one is a geopolitical and ideological competition between the “Resistance Front” led by the Islamic Republic of...

Jan 14, 2021, 3:31 PM

Understanding the Wave of Normalization in the Middle East

Recent developments in the Middle East signify major, and positive, changes in regional dynamics and balances. Four Arab countries—the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco—have established, or are in the process of establishing, diplomatic relations with Israel;...

Oct 20, 2020, 8:35 AM

Lebanese-Israeli Maritime Border Talks: Not Peace, But An Important Step Forward

On October 14, Israeli and Lebanese working-level delegations met at UNIFIL headquarters in Naqura for one hour to begin talks on settling the disputed maritime boundary between the two countries. The talks were mediated by American diplomats David Schenker...

Aug 14, 2020, 1:20 PM

A tempered euphoria on the UAE-Israel agreement

The Tel Aviv municipality building lights up with the UAE flag on August 13, 2020, after the announcement of the Israel-UAE normalization deal brokered by the US. (Tel Aviv municipality/Twitter)

The deal is a clear win for Israel, the UAE and the US, but annexation and the Palestinian issue remain potential stumbling blocks

Dec 16, 2019, 2:31 PM

Signs of partial thaw in the intra-Gulf cold war?

Qatar's Prime Minister Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani, center, looks at Saudi King Salman, right, as he talks to Kuwait's emir, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, left, during the 40th Gulf Cooperation Council Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

As Riyadh and Doha reconcile, Israel must aim to expand shared interests in the Gulf and, crucially, dissuade the US from appearing weak in the region

Aug 9, 2019, 2:26 PM

Jordan Plays the Field

(L to R) Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Ali Hakim, and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi meet in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on August 4, 2019. In the month since the Bahrain Conference, Jordan has intensified...

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About Me

Dr. Joshua Krasna is a fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University, and at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia. He lectures at NYU and the Hebrew University. He was chief of an Israeli government research department responsible for strategic, political, and economic analysis of the Arab Middle East, and served in the Israeli embassies in Jordan and Canada.