N7 Initiative

In the wake of the Abraham Accords signed in September 2020, the Atlantic Council’s Middle East Programs, in partnership with the Jeffrey M. Talpins Foundation, launched the N7 Initiative to help accelerate and strengthen normalization between Israel and Arab and Muslim countries, and to drive bipartisan support in the US for normalization.

Experts

Past events

Latest analysis

MENASource

May 10, 2023

Saudi Arabia should consider the ‘Just Do It’ strategy for normalizing ties with Israel

By Richard LeBaron

Acting on one’s terms when pursuing national interests is always a better strategy. Saudi Arabia is completely capable of dealing with Israel on its own.

Israel Middle East

New Atlanticist

May 9, 2023

Experts react: Israel strikes Gaza. How far will this conflict go, and how will it impact the region?

By Atlantic Council experts

Our experts share their insights on the prospects for escalation and what it all means for Iran, Saudi Arabia, and other regional players.

Conflict Iran

MENASource

Apr 17, 2023

Safeguarding the past: The Arab world’s cure to Holocaust amnesia

By El Mehdi Boudra

On the eve of Yom Hashoah, it is no longer considered taboo in the MENA region to promote Holocaust education and genocide prevention. The region’s youth are more receptive to discussing the events of one of the darkest chapters of human history, despite the political, religious, and educational challenges shrouding this historic move that has been praised in some nations in the region and criticized in others.

Civil Society Education

MENASource

Apr 13, 2023

Hezbollah and its allies are more emboldened than they’ve been in nearly two decades

By Nicholas Blanford

The bottom line of this latest flare-up of violence along the Lebanon-Israel border is that Hezbollah, in coordination with Hamas, launched the largest barrage of rockets into Israel in nearly seventeen years without facing any repercussions.

Israel Lebanon

IranSource

Apr 5, 2023

A series of unrelated events happened in Israel. Fingers are pointing at Hezbollah.

By David Daoud

Tensions have been unusually high along the Lebanese-Israeli border. But war, or a large-scale conflagration, is not imminent.

Israel Lebanon

New Atlanticist

Mar 31, 2023

Israeli-Arab cooperation on agriculture, water, and food security starts with building on existing innovations

By Daniel B. Shapiro

The recent N7 conference showed how the climate crisis in Middle Eastern societies has given rise to a set of issues around which there is much consensus and a true openness to addressing them together.

Civil Society Climate Change & Climate Action

IranSource

Mar 30, 2023

Israel and the international community have deep gaps on the Iran nuclear issue. It’s time the Israeli government adopts fresh thinking.

By Danny Citrinowicz  

The Israeli government must understand that there is a need to dissociate between the nuclear issue, which has only a diplomatic solution, and Iranian malign activities.

Iran Israel

MENASource

Mar 30, 2023

I was part of the Israeli National Security Council. Climate change has been an important security challenge for years.

By Efrat Minivitzki Thein

Israel’s experience of addressing climate change as a national security challenge is also an approach that bears sharing with its regional partners.

Climate Change & Climate Action Energy & Environment

New Atlanticist

Mar 27, 2023

Experts react: Netanyahu just delayed his judicial overhaul after mass protests. What’s next for Israel’s democracy?

By Atlantic Council experts

What’s next for Israel and its relations with the world? Our experts offer their insight.

Israel Middle East

Fast Thinking

Mar 10, 2023

Why did China broker an Iran-Saudi detente?

By Atlantic Council

What does this move mean for one of the Middle East’s defining rivalries? How should the United States view China’s role in the breakthrough? Our experts dig beyond the diplomat-speak.

Economy & Business Iran

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