Iran & the West, diplomacy and war- Jerusalem Studio 431
Over the past several weeks, the emphasis - in what can be regarded as the Iran crisis – has shifted from belligerent rhetoric to indirect diplomacy, as well as an apparent beginning of confidence building measures. Do the latest developments indicate a mutual effort at de-escalation or are merely a pause in an inevitable military confrontation?
Panel:
- Jonathan Hessen, host.
- Amir Oren, analyst.
- Dr. Raz Zimmt, Iran expert – INSS.
- Dr. Menahem Merhavy, research fellow, Truman Institute, Hebrew University.
The program offers the viewer deeper understanding about current events in Israel. The topics vary from domestic and foreign policy to social changes, archaelogy and religion.
The program is hosted by TV7 Israel News anchor Jonathan Hessen.
Turkey-Israel Cooperation versus Iranian terror - Jerusalem Studio 700
The old principle that a crisis is also an opportunity was validated last month when Israel learned that its citizens were actively being targeted by Iranian hit squads in the city of Istanbul. Close cooperation between Mossad and the Turkish MIT intelligence service managed to foil several plots and bring about the arrest of would-be…
Middle Eastern Energy amid Supply Shortages - Jerusalem Studio 699
The Middle East became prominent in world affairs for its religious and cultural centrality due to its location between continents and maritime routes, but most of all because of the discovery of oil -- at a time when demand for the resource escalated by the industrial and transportation sectors. "Oil is still King" but there…
Washington’s Mideast Efforts and Aspirations - Jerusalem Studio 698
US President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit the Middle East next month for the first time in his term in office, although he has of course been to the region many times in the past, dating back to 1973. During his 4-day tour in Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Saudi Arabia, the US leader…
Lebanon: will political instability lead to war? Jerusalem Studio 697
A month after its parliamentary elections, Lebanon is still sinking into the abyss with no political center to stabilize the turbulent system. No major group or coalition emerged, many new members are unknown qualities with questionable loyalties; the economy is crashing, and everyday life becomes ever harder to negotiate. How can Lebanon emerge out of…
Israel's military preparedness post-Chariots of Fire – Jerusalem Studio 696
The Israel Defense Forces changes its top leader every four years. The current chief, Lieutenant General Aviv Kochavi, is due to retire at the turn of the year. He is already preparing his end of tour report by testing his forces through a month-long exercise, Chariots of Fire – which was held not only in…
Turkey's security-related considerations for Syria & Iraq – Jerusalem Studio 695
The Kurdish minorities in several Middle Eastern countries have never been close to fulfilling their historical dream of creating a Kurdistan, which will inevitably mean cutting territories out of nations currently with sovereignty over them. They nevertheless keep trying - and by the same measure - those nations are resisting Kurdish efforts. None more so…
Jerusalem’s political stability – Jerusalem Studio 694
In a week’s time, Israel will mark Benjamin Netanyahu’s first year out of power. His rivals have managed to hold together a unique right-center-left coalition - united on almost no issue save the determination to block Netanyahu’s return to the office he occupied for the preceding dozen years. The government headed by Naftali Bennett and…
Iran’s nuclear advances amid diplomatic deadlock – Jerusalem Studio 693
When Special Envoy for Iran in the State Department Rob Malley testified during a Senate committee on the Biden Administration’s policy last week, he expressed a rather pessimistic view of the prospects for a renewed nuclear deal. Such an agreement, he said, is better than the present situation because without it, “Iran advanced its program…
Iran's domestic woes due to its malign priorities – Jerusalem Studio 692
The Islamic regime in Tehran does not derive its legitimacy and authority from popular support. It claims divine backing, but just in case - relies on brute force, through the Revolutionary Guards Corps and other military, security and police organizations. Nevertheless, the problems endemic to Iran’s economy and exacerbated by the sanctions imposed on its…
Gaza: An obstacle to regional stability – Jerusalem Studio 691
For the last 17 years, Israel has been out of the Gaza District, having unilaterally left it under Palestinian rule. For 15 of those years, Hamas has controlled this jam-packed narrow territory and its two million inhabitants. And for 11 of those, the leader of Hamas and therefore of Gaza has been Yahya Sinwar, a…
The Damascus-Tehran link amid global developments – Jerusalem Studio 690
Earlier this month, the European Union convened in Brussels a meeting of representatives of mostly Arab and European nations and organizations, along with the United States and Japan. The agenda had to do with the humanitarian situation in Syria and the country’s political future, as well as the determination to keep fighting Daesh (Islamic State);…
US-Israel relations amid great power competition – Jerusalem Studio 689
U.S. President Joe Biden intends to visit Israel and the Palestinian Authority next month, in a show of support for their governments and for an internationally aspired Two-State solution. However, the fragility of the Israeli ruling coalition - which is hanging by a thread- prevents any substantive progress on the Israel-Palestinian file – at a…
Iran’s nuclear advances & regional implications – Jerusalem Studio 688
The Vienna talks on reviving the dormant Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action regarding Iran’s nuclear ambitions have seemingly been on hold for several weeks now, with the parties closer than ever but unable to close the deal yet. The negotiations are complicated by two of the parties: Russia in the negotiating room and the United…
Lebanon Pre-Election analysis – Jerusalem Studio 687
On the 15th of this month Lebanese voters will elect a new parliament. The 128 seats are allocated along “confessional” and geographical lines. As no party can garner a majority, the government is thus always based on complex coalitions. Lebanon is in permanent crisis, economically and socially. Its ruling elite is corrupt. As there is…
US-Iran standoff amid stalled nuclear talks – Jerusalem Studio 686
Seven years after Iran reached a nuclear deal with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Germany and the European Union, the talks over the revival of the agreement - which was breached by the Trump administration and then by Tehran - are close to the finish line but are apparently stalled there.…
Jerusalem: Tensions over sovereignty and freedom of worship – Jerusalem Studio 685
In the ever-explosive Arab-Israeli conflict, which to a great extent though not exclusively is also a Moslem-Jewish one, Jerusalem is the most delicate component, always about to set off a detonation. The holy city was supposed to be governed by the United Nations until the 1948 Israeli War of Independence left it divided between Israel…
Israel-Russia relations amid Ukraine war– Jerusalem Studio 684
The Russia-Israel relationship, which was favorable until the invasion of Ukraine, is now a minor casualty of this war, in which Jerusalem has no direct self-interest. At first Israel tried to avoid taking a position, but American pressure to condemn Russia’s policy proved too much - and Moscow countered in kind. Diplomatically, verbal blows are…
Israel’s political stability – Jerusalem Studio 683
The Israeli government has been in office for ten months and the next election is scheduled three and a half years from now; but the coalition is currently teetering on the brink of political abyss with the defection of its own Majority Whip, a member of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s Knesset faction. Because Israel’s legislators…
For several years now, Israel’s domestic security situation was considered relatively good, with long periods of quiet occasionally punctured by few incidents and frequent reports of air strikes against hostile targets in neighboring countries. Military Intelligence nevertheless continued to issue strategic alerts regarding an outbreak of violence emanating from the West Bank, due either to…
Yemen's domestic turmoil amid regional rivalries – Jerusalem Studio 681
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has unleashed a humanitarian crisis there, had also brought about an indirect effect far away. The war in Yemen, which is in its eighth year, killed more civilians than the one in Ukraine, almost nine thousand, yet the poor population there is out of sight and out of mind. On…
Iran: nuclear versus revolutionary aspirations – Jerusalem Studio 680
In its 43 years in power, the Islamic Revolutionary regime in Tehran had only two Supreme leaders, Ayatollahs Khomeini and Khamenei. They have both faced a similar dilemma, reconciling the top priority of survival for their structures built in order to control the country with their aspirations to export that version of Shi’ite revolution to…
Efforts to revive a Palestinian-Israel political process – Jerusalem Studio 679
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel last week for the second time during his watch as President Joe Biden’s top diplomat, ten months after his first trip to Jerusalem. Last year, his mission was to help reach and preserve a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, with Egyptian mediation. This time he celebrated Israel’s…
Israel's security in the Cyber sphere – Jerusalem Studio 678
The use of cyber weapons, both defensive and offensive, is supposed to be a hallmark of modern war, supplementing and even supplanting traditional kinetic operations. Yet in the Russia-Ukraine conflict cyberwarfare seems to have been in use less than expected; and if it accompanied the Russian invasion, had little impact - unless the domestic Russian…
Russia-Ukraine war: Implications for the Mideast – Jerusalem Studio 677
As the Russia-Ukraine war marks its second month, there are various implications for countries outside the immediate vicinity of these combatants. In the Middle East, governments and militaries are watching the events, in attempts to elicit early lessons - especially those that can be implemented locally and regionally by gaining professional insight regarding the forces…
President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Ankara earlier this month was an important milestone in a long road back to a sensible relationship between Israel and Turkey. The ‘strategic love affair’ between the two nations in the 1990s turned into an acrimonious divorce after the rise of Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan to power. With new…
Iran's nuclear program: latest developments – Jerusalem Studio 675
A little over 1,000 kilometers separate Kiev from Vienna, but the two capitals recently seemed to be twin cities. What happened in the Ukraine war apparently loomed over the talks regarding Iran’s nuclear program, with a final draft of abstinence-for-assistance ready to be signed but frozen due to Moscow’s demands to allow trade with Tehran,…
TV7 Israel Jerusalem Studio Special - Europe at war: Implications for the Middle East & Israel
One does not have to live in the Middle East in order to view the Ukrainian conflict with concern and compassion, but for those of us in this region there are extra dimensions which bear watching. What does Russia’s decision to invade its neighbor mean regarding the threat and use of force elsewhere? Has the…
Syrian Civil War hits 11th year - Jerusalem Studio 674
March 15th is indeed the Ides of March in Syria. Mars, the God of War, descended on Syria on this date eleven years ago and has never left, though he is also busy in Ukraine and other places. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad managed to cling to power for more than a decade, first with help…
Regional security cooperation to contend with rising Iranian threats – Jerusalem Studio 673
Apart from the nuclear file, Iran’s activities in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq - compounded by maritime aggression in the Arabian Gulf and its vicinity - brought home to pro-Western regional governments the need for wider and deeper military and security cooperation. Two of the major lynchpins in this new array of forces are CENTCOM’s…
Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile advancements – Jerusalem Studio 672
Tensions between Russia and Western countries, as well as international organizations such as the European Union over the war in Ukraine will certainly affect other issues on which there was up-to-now common ground between the parties. A case in point is the nuclear deal being essentially renegotiated in Vienna between Iran and the parties to…
Lebanon: state of affairs amid escalating rhetoric – Jerusalem Studio 671
Less than three months before general elections are to be held in Lebanon, the country is in turmoil though not yet in one of its periodic civil wars. The most severe problem is the collapse of the economy, spreading misery to many walks of the population, though not to a corrupt and incompetent elite. The…
Israel’s defensive preparedness amid rise of UAS threats – Jerusalem Studio 670
The Israel Air Force is widely recognized as one of the world’s best organizations of military aviation. It excels in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground strikes and surface-to-air intercept; the last mission being assigned in the Israel Defense Forces to this branch rather than to the Army. Yet what has been a remarkable record against ‘birds of…
The Russia-Ukraine crisis: Implications for the Middle East – Jerusalem Studio 668
However the Russia-Ukraine crisis unfolds with its political and military dimensions, the Middle East is more than a curious bystander watching a tense face-off in the neighborhood. It will have significant implications for the relative power and influence of Russia and the United States. The value of alliances, formal ones such as NATO and less…
The battle against ISIS amid its resurgence – Jerusalem Studio 669
Earlier this month, the U.S. Special Forces Operation against the leader of Da’esh (or ISIL) Ibrahim Quraishi (also known as Hajj Abdullah) was apparently successful on two levels: it removed from the scene a supreme commander who had a major role in the Islamic State’s efforts to regroup and once again take over parts of…
Iran’s nuclear program: Final diplomatic stretch in Vienna? Jerusalem Studio 667
The bargaining between the United States and Iran, whether formally and indirectly in Vienna or elsewhere and through other channels, is evidently approaching its endgame. The indicators include a waiver on sanctions related to nuclear work in Iranian facilities, reversing a Trump-era policy and serving as a good will gesture on the part of the…
The battle over Yemen: Regional & Global implications – Jerusalem Studio episode Number 666
The war-torn country of Yemen is seen by analysts as a territory of limited strategic value with some ability to threaten vital shipping lanes in the adjacent Red Sea. And while local groups are vehemently fighting for control over this impoverished territory, the conflict is not only an internal one but rather is part of…
Israel's northern challenges and threats - security assessment – Jerusalem Studio 665
When Israel looks at its northern borders, it tends to view the neighboring countries of Syria and Lebanon as ‘one front with two sectors and half-dozen elements.’ There are the military forces under the control of Damascus and Beirut; the Shi’ite political movement and heavily armed militia Hezbollah, Iranian units and proxies, a resurgent Daesh…
Turkey-Israel relations amid overtures for normalization – Jerusalem Studio 664
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has apparently made a strategic decision to bury the hatchet and normalize Turkey’s relations with Israel. For the last several months, there have been small and symbolic signs of Erdogan’s willingness to chart a new course with the Bennett government, after a dozen years of tension with the one headed…
Iran's nuclear progress amid prolonged talks in Vienna – Jerusalem Studio 663
According to conventional wisdom, Washington is a ‘one-crisis city’ unable to effectively handle two major problems simultaneously. Perhaps this applies to the ongoing Iranian nuclear effort, when the Biden administration is almost totally focused on the Russia-Ukraine crisis. The Vienna talks have been dragging on with no reported breakthrough, and the Iranians are slowly but…
NATO & the Mideast amid increased Chinese-Russian influence – Jerusalem Studio 662
Ever since the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was founded, in 1949, the Mediterranean and the Levant constituted NATO’s Southern Flank, with the U.S. Sixth Fleet the main striking force in the region. With Europe once again a hot spot, especially on the Russia-Ukraine front, NATO could find itself back in its core mission, having all…
Israel-Jordan relations: geo-strategic analysis – Jerusalem Studio 661
Of the two neighboring Arab countries upholding their peace accords with Israel, Jordan is always of more concern to strategic planners in Tel Aviv and their Cabinet in Jerusalem. Egypt’s mainland is far away across the Sinai Desert, and its regime seems relatively safe. But the Hashemite Kingdom has to contend with a Palestinian majority,…
The Iranian nuclear file amid escalating tensions – Jerusalem Studio 660
Conflicting signals have been coming out of Vienna over the last couple of weeks, leading to the disappointing conclusion that a year into the administration of US President Joe Biden - who promised to undo Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran - the parties are closer to an agreement on a…
Israel’s challenges vs Iran amid presumed diplomatic concessions – Jerusalem Studio 659
Over the last few weeks, we have watched Iran practice an offensive military exercise focused against Israel. Iran fired rockets they claim can reach Israel and emphasized that Israel is the target. Yet as we speak, the diplomatic effort to arrive at an agreement with the Islamic regime of Iran about the nuclear issue is…
Israel’s post-conflict preparedness: analysis of lessons learned – Jerusalem Studio 658
One of the biggest challenges facing any country is to learn the lessons from past conflicts and implement these lessons to better face the next confrontation. In the Israeli reality it seems the next conflict is never too far away. It could be against Hamas terror from the south or Hezbollah terror from the north.…
Strategic Analysis and Projections for 2022 - Jerusalem Studio 657
The Prophets are long gone from this city, and indeed from the entire ancient Kingdoms of Judea and Israel. We are left with mere mortals, trying to analyze actions and trends in order to predict at least the general outline of what may await us in 2022. We know that these programs are recorded for…
TV7 Annual Review: 2021 Recap - Jerusalem Studio 656
As the year 2021 draws to its close, we will try to look back it from our regional perspective, in an effort to highlight its more salient and perhaps enduring features. This has of course been the second consecutive year impacted by COVID-19, but the pandemic did not freeze military and political developments in the…
What to be done if Iran nuclear talks fail? Jerusalem Studio 655
The clichés have been used so many times that they have worn thin: “All options on the table,” “All means at our disposal, “Plan B,” “Other tools in our box.” These are of course intended to signal, indicate and threaten - without being direct about it. This is prose rather than poetry, because once a…
