Israel-Hamas war

Fast Thinking Oct 3, 2025

Hamas just agreed to release all remaining hostages. What does that mean for the Trump peace plan?

On Friday, Hamas agreed to release all of the remaining hostages that the militant group captured during its October 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel. Our experts share their perspectives on what this means for a potential cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.

New Atlanticist Aug 1, 2025

Diplomatic momentum for recognizing a State of Palestine is growing. Here’s what to know.

By Atlantic Council experts

France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Portugal, and several other countries have said they may recognize a State of Palestine at the UN General Assembly in September.

Middle East Politics & Diplomacy

Issue Brief Sep 15, 2025

The Abraham Accords at five

By Allison Minor, Daniel B. Shapiro, Amir Hayek, Loay Alshareef, Ahmed Khuzaie, Sarah Zaaimi

On the fifth anniversary of the UAE, Bahrain, and Israel normalizing relations, American, Bahraini, Emirati, Israeli, and Moroccan authors reflect on the transformational change and “warm peace” envisioned by the Abraham Accords—a long-term, generational project.

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MENASource

MENASource Oct 2, 2025

Why Israel’s push for West Bank annexation is going mainstream—and what it means for the Abraham Accords

By Itai Melchior

In the past, West Bank annexation was only endorsed by smaller right-wing parties. But today—the demands are far more mainstream in Israel.

International Norms Israel

MENASource Oct 6, 2025

To preserve ‘Rising Lion’s’ achievements, Israel must support an Iran nuclear deal

By Danny Citrinowicz

Despite Israel’s desire to solve its problems “by force of the sword”, an agreement, not a renewed war, serves Israel’s interests better.

Conflict Nuclear Deterrence

MENASource Sep 19, 2025

How Israel’s strike on Doha is forcing a Gulf security reckoning

By Giorgio Cafiero

The Gulf monarchies have displayed strong unity at a time when rethinking twenty-first-century Gulf security is no longer optional.

Israel Middle East

New Atlanticist

New Atlanticist Sep 18, 2025

Are Arab nations going to impose real costs on Israel?

By Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley

Arab and Islamic leaders recently met in Doha to discuss Israel’s strike against Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital. It might mark a turning point in regional diplomacy toward Israel.

Conflict Israel

New Atlanticist Sep 23, 2025

Dispatch from 2,200 feet over Gaza: What I learned from airdropping desperately needed food aid

By Ahmed F. Alkhatib

The head of Realign For Palestine, an Atlantic Council project, joined a recent humanitarian flight over the Gaza Strip that delivered much-needed food to Palestinians.

Conflict Israel

New Atlanticist Aug 19, 2025

How Trump can drive an end to the war in Gaza

By Daniel B. Shapiro

A narrow opportunity exists to avoid stretching the Gaza tragedy into 2026. The US president needs to seize it.

Conflict Israel

Videos

The Atlantic Council's Holly Dagres explains the implications of recent escalations between Israel and Iran. She explores how Israel might respond to Iran's missile attack on October 1.

Dagres is a nonresident senior fellow specializing in Iranian affairs and the editor of the Middle East Programs’ IranSource and MENASource publications.

How will Israel respond to Iran's missile attack?

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Will this latest escalation lead to all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah? What will it mean for the conflict in the Middle East? The Atlantic Council’s Jonathan Panikoff breaks down the key issues at stake after this week’s explosion of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies in Lebanon.

For more analysis, visit our website: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/experts-react/experts-react-whats-behind-the-hezbollah-beeper-and-walkie-talkie-explosions/

Is a full-scale war between Israel and Hezbollah imminent?

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Senator Joni Ernst says recent conversations with Mohammed bin Salman have made her optimistic that Saudia Arabia remains committed to normalizing relations with Israel.

"We know that [Saudi Arabia has] been working very hard with the Israelis on what some of us will call 'normalization'. The Saudis don't call it that, but it's a peace and prosperity plan for their countries," said United States Senator Joni Ernst.

"There has to be resolution in Israel," she said as a caveat.

She made these remarks during an Atlantic Council event at the @AtlanticCouncilUS headquarters in Washington, DC.

Watch the full event here:

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/the-n7-initiatives-fireside-chat-with-senator-joni-ernst/

#shorts

Senator Joni Ernst: Saudi Arabia "still intent on moving forward with normalization" with Israel

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How will the killings of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur impact the war in Gaza?

"The ceasefire negotiations are likely to be delayed as a result of this, but they will continue," says William F. Wechsler, Senior Director at the @AtlanticCouncilUS's Rafik Hariri Center and Middle East Programs.

#shorts

Impact of key Hamas and Hezbollah leaders' deaths on Gaza war

YouTube Video gwszRhjyFE0

While the latest round of hostilities between Iran and Israel, culminating in Iran’s April 14th attack, have gone quiet, the latest escalation may point to a new status quo.

Raz Zimmt, a researcher at Tel Aviv University, writes that while both countries have avoided a full-fledged military confrontation, “The first direct Iranian attack on Israel marks a new phase in the two countries’ strategic rivalry.”

Read Zimmt’s full analysis, “This round of Iran-Israel escalation is over, but the next could be just around the corner”: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/iransource/israel-iran-escalation-syria-zahedi/

#shorts

Smart in 60 Seconds: Has the Iran-Israel conflict entered a new phase?

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Hung Tran, nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Geoeconomics Center and former IMF deputy department director, emphasized the significance of Iran's missile and drone attack on Israel over the weekend.

"It really opened Pandora's box in the sense of, in the future, tit [for] tat retaliation will go beyond what we have seen before," he said.

Watch more from the 2024 Spring Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) at the link below.

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/imf-world-bank-week/?network_account=AtlanticCouncil&utm_campaign=2024_imf_spring_meetings

How Iran's missile attack on Israel could affect global markets

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While Hamas has been hit with sanctions from the US, EU and G7 countries, the organization continues to manage an investment portfolio worth at least $500 million dollars, partly due to the lack of a terrorism designation for the group by the UN and partners in the Arab World.

Read the full analysis by Kimberly Donovan, Maia Nikoladze, Ryan Murphy, and Alessandra Magazzino with the Atlantic Council’s Economic Statecraft Initiative: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/econographics/global-sanctions-dashboard-how-hamas-raises-uses-and-moves-money/

#shorts

Smart in 60 Seconds: How Hamas funds its terror operations

YouTube Video -LXYGwZOhG8

Since the the Hamas attacks on October 7, Lebanon-based Hezbollah and the IDF have engaged in tit-for-tat missile and drone strokes, and the attacks are escalating.

Hezbollah is refusing to negotiate until the War in Gaza ends, and more than 80,000 residents of northern Israel have evacuated and are refusing to return unless Hezbollah is pushed further from the Israeli border.

Nicholas Blanford of the Atlantic Council’s Middle East programs writes that if hostilities continue for much longer, "Pressure on the Israeli government to launch some form of offensive into south Lebanon is going to be hard to resist, even if it has little chance of achieving long-term success."

Read Blanford’s analysis “A steady escalation along the Lebanon-Israel border—and no end in sight”: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/menasource/gaza-hezbollah-israel-war-ghaziyeh-escalation/

#shorts

Smart in 60 Seconds: Violence is escalating between Israel and Lebanon

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Nonresident Senior Fellow Thomas Warrick served in the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the US Department of State, where he worked on counterterrorism strategies across the Middle East and former Soviet states.

In Gaza, Warrick says there are four key scenarios for a post-war transition, and that planning needs to start as soon as possible “if the war is to end with something that makes a better outcome for the Israeli people, for the Palestinian people, and for the entire Middle East.”

Read Warrick’s essay published in the New York Times, “I Saw What Happened to America’s Postwar Plans for Iraq. Here’s How Israel Should Plan for Gaza,”

HERE: www.nytimes.com/2023/10/16/opinion/israel-gaza-iraq-iran.html

Here’s what Gaza might look like after the war

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Events

Past events

Public Event Tue, September 16, 2025 • 9:00 pm ET

Implications of Middle East security trends for Latin America and the Caribbean

The Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, in partnership with Florida International University, will host a conversation on how trends unfolding in the Middle East impact Latin America.

Conflict Latin America Middle East Non-Traditional Threats

Online Event Mon, July 21, 2025 • 10:00 pm ET

Israel’s Noach Hacker on the resilience of the Israeli economy in times of war

Minister of Economic Affairs at the Israeli Embassy Noach Hacker discusses why the Israeli economy has proven surprisingly resilient over the past two years.

Conflict Economy & Business Israel Macroeconomics

Online Event Mon, January 29, 2024 • 12:00 pm ET

Qatar’s prime minister on regional de-escalation, war in Gaza, and US-Qatar relations

AN #ACFRONTPAGE EVENT – Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani presents his vision for Middle East security, integration, and peaceful coexistence.

Conflict Crisis Management Defense Policy Economy & Business

Public Event Fri, December 8, 2023 • 4:00 am ET

Egypt’s foreign minister on his country’s leadership, the war in Gaza and related challenges

AN #ACFRONTPAGE EVENT— Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry discussed the Israel-Hamas War, Egypt’s regional leadership and other challenges.

Economy & Business Israel Middle East North Africa

Public Event Tue, October 25, 2022 • 4:30 am ET

A conversation with President of Israel Isaac Herzog

AN #ACFRONTPAGE EVENT – President Isaac Herzog presented his vision for regional cooperation within the context of Israel-Arab normalization.

Economy & Business Israel Middle East Politics & Diplomacy

All articles

New Atlanticist

Jan 18, 2018

Trump Recognized Jerusalem. Then What?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

This article is part of a series that reflects on the first year of the Trump administration. Although Trump recognized Jerusalem to be Israel’s capital, he didn’t describe it as the undivided capital of Israel. Why does this matter?

Israel

New Atlanticist

Dec 21, 2017

Miscalculations, Machismo, and Military Misjudgment Could Create New Global Hot Spots

By Daniel V. Speckhard

Connecting 2017’s political and military missteps to 2018’s global economic outlook The shift toward nationalist populism, demonstrated by the sweeping political changes around the world in 2017, has throughout history been a harbinger of global instability and conflict, and could directly affect both the international security landscape and global economy in 2018. Looking back, it […]

China Iran

New Atlanticist

Dec 6, 2017

Trump’s ‘Pretty Serious Mistake’ in the Middle East

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Recognition of Jerusalem as Israeli capital does not advance the interests of the United States or the region, said James Cunningham, a former US ambassador to Israel US President Donald J. Trump’s decision to reverse almost seven decades of US policy and recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is “potentially, a pretty serious mistake,” […]

Israel Middle East

MENASource

Jul 26, 2017

Fifty Years On, a Defeat at Israel’s Hands Haunts Egyptian Military Veterans

By Farid Farid

Staggering and confused from the heat and the rapid capitulation of the Egyptian army during the short lived Six Day War, Ibrahim El Sayed was dumbfounded when the Israeli soldier who was to capture him as a prisoner of war spoke to him flawlessly in an Egyptian Arabic accent.

Israel North Africa

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Israel-Hamas war