Open Search form

Middle East

Apply for a Blog

David Charles Pollack

Sep 19, 2026, 6:05 PM

Did Muhammad Fast on Yom Kippur?

Before Muslims had to fast during Ramadan, there was Ashura. Ashura falls on the tenth day of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic year. Muhammad is said to have explained that fasting on Ashura atones for the sins of...

Myles Israel-Pardo

Sep 19, 2026, 10:04 AM

What do we want? It’s time to have a conversation

6:29 AM. The beginning of the 21st Century’s first pogrom. One that would jeopardize Israel’s social contract and mark the opening of a new era of Middle Eastern history. The Jewish State, reestablished in the wake of one of...

Sep 18, 2026, 7:02 PM

The Mecca Pact: An alliance on paper

Confronted by the Houthis, Riyadh discovers the fragility of Its alliances—and the unacknowledged usefulness of Israel

Jose Lev Alvarez Gomez

Sep 18, 2026, 5:16 AM

Israel Must Protect the Mecca Holy Sites

Fifth-century Yemen supplies the modern State of Israel with a vital historical precedent that Middle East analysts foolishly ignore. When the Himyarite Jewish king Abu Kariba As’ad marched to raze the Kaaba, two traveling rabbis halted the demolition by...

Sep 18, 2026, 5:10 AM

The $2.8 Billion Trap: Why Israel Must Modernize Its Defense Doctrine

IDF Paratroopers Brigade forces engaging Hamas in the Gaza Strip, January 2024

The recent notification of a proposed $2.8 billion U.S. arms package to Israel—featuring 40,000 2,000-pound heavy bombs, including MK-84s, BLU-117s, and 20,000 I-2000 Penetrator warheads—was widely celebrated across Jerusalem’s security establishment. In an era characterized by simultaneous regional threats,...

Bob Avraham Yermus

Sep 17, 2026, 11:33 PM

When Good Men Do Nothing

I try to keep up with events, which means listening to news. There is always something going on here, or around here, and usually involves defense and security. Sometimes the connections between events seem to be right up front,...

Sheldon Kirshner

Sep 17, 2026, 8:22 PM

The Middle East Is Enmeshed In A Regional War

Hamas launched its invasion of southern Israel on October 7, 2023 with the broad intention of igniting a regional war whose end result would be Israel's destruction. While Hamas clearly failed to destroy Israel, which has since grown stronger...

Sep 15, 2026, 10:58 AM

Iran’s Shiite Caliphate: The Cannibals Still Rule

Four centuries have passed since the Safavid cannibals terrorized Iran; the cannibals are gone, but their machinery of fear still rules the country. The Safavid dynasty lasted for 235 years, ruling from 1501 to 1736. During this sinister era, which...

Sep 15, 2026, 3:22 AM

The 2026 BRICS Declaration: The Grammar of EMDE-Centrism

PM Narendra Modi at BRICS Summit Session on “Inclusive Global Governance and Strengthening Multilateralism” at Bharat Mandapam, in New Delhi on September 12, 2026. (Photo Credit: PIB/Govt. of India).

From a bureaucratic category to a language of collective leverage, the New Delhi Declaration shows how BRICS is weaving EMDEs into its claims over capital, representation, and the architecture of global economic governance. On September 12, 2026, BRICS leaders unanimously...

Sep 12, 2026, 5:03 PM

The High Holidays Climate Verdict: Ancient Mediterranean Survival in Warming Era

The High Holidays Climate Verdict

Every autumn, as the Jewish calendar pivots from the solemn introspection of Rosh Hashanah to the open-air vulnerability of Sukkot, tradition introduces a quiet, existential question. According to the Mishnah, it is during Sukkot that the world is judged...

Load more