Foreign Podicy

Filling in for host Cliff May this week is Mark Dubowitz, chief executive of FDD, and he’s joined by Karim Sadjadpour. They cover the full gamut of U.S. foreign policy on Iran, from looking back at President Obama’s 2015 nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic and President Trump’s 2018 withdrawal from the JCPOA to looking ahead and arguing for policies of maximum pressure on the regime and maximum support for the Iranian people.Karim is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he focuses on Iran and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. He’s also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. Karim regularly advises senior U.S. officials and has testified numerous times before Congress. His analysis is widely published, and he frequents major media outlets including PBS NewsHour, NPR, and CNN. 

The first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with the Jewish state was Egypt. Following the Yom Kippur War of 1973, came the Camp David Accords of 1978 which provided both countries with tangible benefits. While the peace has never been warm, it has held. But since October 7, Egypt’s behavior has been distressing. What’s more, there’s now evidence that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has been deceiving Israel for years – allowing weapons and ammunition to flow freely to Hamas through an elaborate network of tunnels under the border between Egypt and Gaza. Helping host Cliff May understand the now-tense relationship between Cairo and Jerusalem are his FDD colleagues Haisam Hassanein and Jonathan Schanzer.

Hamas called its October 7 terrorist attack “Operation al Aqsa Flood,” suggesting a religious – rather than nationalistic – motive.The al Aqsa compound, the third holiest site in Islam, sits atop the ruins of both the ancient temples of the Jews. The first was built by King Solomon and was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. The second was built in the sixth century BCE and stood for nearly 600 years before it was destroyed by the Roman Empire in 70 CE.But before there were mosques or temples in Judea there was something else: The City of David which, over recent years, archaeologists have been unearthing.To discuss what this dig is revealing about the past, and the impact these revelations might have on modern foreign policy, host Cliff May is joined by Ze’ev Orenstein, Director of International Affairs for the City of David Foundation in Jerusalem.

Americans and our allies confront an extraordinary array of threats from an emerging “axis of aggressors,” consisting of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. That’s the bad news.The good news? Americans have an unmatched network of allies and partners with whom we can work to defend our common interests and counter growing threats.Among our partners in that network are three beleaguered democracies: Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel. The primary way we can help is by sending weapons. But is the U.S. defense industrial base up to the task? Can America once again serve as the “Arsenal of Democracy?” Can we arm ourselves while simultaneously providing Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel with the means of self-defense? And what's up with the Biden administration and the provision of weapons to Israel?Senior director of FDD's Center on Military and Political Power and guest host Bradley Bowman asks Mira Resnick, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Regional Security in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. She oversees

A war is being waged against Israel by Iran’s rulers and their proxies, and they don’t hide their goal — they boast of it: annihilation. Extermination. Genocide.Now seven months into Israel’s defensive war in Gaza following the heinous terrorist attacks of October 7, Hamas is down but not out. And they are literally down: its leaders, including Yahya Sinwar, are believed to be ensconced in an elaborate labyrinth of tunnels underneath Rafah in Gaza, wherein the last remaining Hamas battalions remain.Meanwhile, Israel also faces rocket fire from Hezbollah in Lebanon and, recently, from Iran itself.President Biden’s response to all of this? Halting the delivery of weapons and ammunition to Israel.To discuss what President Biden wants to accomplish, what America’s enemies and allies are gleaning from this episode, what options are open to Congressional supporters of Israel, and what Israel’s options are now, host Cliff May is joined by his FDD colleagues RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, Bradley Bowman, and Richard Go

In the aftermath of World War II, the establishment of the United Nations seemed like a promising idea: global unity in resolving conflicts peacefully while promoting human rights. Surely everyone in the new international community will support such efforts, right? Wrong.U.N. corruption is obvious to anyone willing to look, but most Americans and Europeans in positions of authority don’t look.And the problem has reached alarming new lows since the October 7 invasion of and attack on Israel by Hamas.Luckily, some experts are paying attention. A report fittingly titled, “The Urgent Need for U.N. Reform,” was published last month by Alan Goldsmith of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) and the Counter Extremism Project. The report’s foreword was written by former Representative Iliana Ros-Lehtinen and FDD Senior Advisor Richard Goldberg.Alan and Rich join host Cliff May to discuss the U.N.'s dangerous fall from grace as well as if — and how — the failed organization might be rehabilitated. 

Ali Khamenei, Iran’s longtime ruler, saw the possibility of normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia as a threat to his hegemonic ambitions. On Oct. 7, Hamas, one of Tehran’s proxies, invaded Israel and committed multiple acts of barbarism. That sparked a war and froze prospects for a new Saudi-Israeli relationship.  However, The Wall Street Journal reports that Washington is pushing for a “long-shot diplomatic deal” – one in which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would “accept a new commitment to Palestinian statehood” in exchange for diplomatic recognition of Israel by Saudi Arabia. What else would have to be in such a deal? Can it happen while the war in Gaza is ongoing? Do the Saudis secretly want Israel to enter Rafah and finish off Hamas? To discuss the current state of diplomatic and kinetic play, host Cliff May is joined by Mark Dubowitz, FDD's Chief Executive; and Bernard Haykel, Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University and a leading expert on Saudi Arabia.

Last weekend, Iran’s rulers launched a massive missile and drone assault on Israel.Though the attack was thwarted, it should be obvious that the Islamic Republic is willing to pursue its goal of “Death to Israel!” — not just by utilizing Arab proxies and pawns, but now also directly from within its own territory. We must assume that Iran’s rulers are also now adjusting their strategies for the jihad they are waging and the genocide they vow to carry out.A reminder: If Iran’s rulers acquire nuclear weapons and missiles capable of delivering them to targets anywhere in the world that would be a game-changer. Israel’s leaders must now think harder than ever about how to fight this long war.  To explore such questions, host Cliff May is joined by his FDD colleagues Behnam Ben Taleblu, FDD Senior Fellow; Bradley Bowman, Senior Director of FDD's Center on Military and Political Power; and retired Admiral Mark Montgomery, Senior Director of FDD's Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation.Editor's note: We are releas

Six months after Iranian-backed terrorists perpetrated the largest slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, Israel’s ground war against Hamas in Gaza, its conflict with Lebanon-based Hezbollah in Israel’s north, and Tehran’s multi-front shadow war against the Jewish state continue.For a status update, host Cliff May is joined by his FDD colleagues Bradley Bowman, senior director of FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power, and Brigadier General (Res.) Jacob Nagel, a visiting fellow at FDD and former Israeli national security advisor under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.They discuss Israel’s withdrawal of most troops from Gaza; the necessity of closing the tunnels from Egypt through which Hamas has received huge quantities of arms and ammunition; the difficulties of providing aid to Gazans while Hamas holds hostages and kills Israelis whenever possible; where Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif are likely hiding; and the strategic imperative of defeating the remaining Hamas battalions in Rafah.Th

The Israeli airstrike next to Iran’s embassy in Damascus on April 1 targeted several high-ranking members of Iran’s Quds Force — an elite division of its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, which is designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization. Among those killed: top IRGC-QF commander in Syria and Lebanon, Mohammad Reza Zahedi. The regime in Tehran has vowed revenge, and Israel is on high-alert for escalation by Iran’s proxies on seven possible fronts.To discuss the strategic thinking behind Israel’s strike and possible Iranian responses, host Cliff May is joined by FDD experts Behnam Ben Taleblu and Hussain Abdul Hussain. They explain why diplomatic immunity was not in play in Damascus, and revisit Iran’s history of not respecting such diplomatic niceties and protocols; analyze reactions from the Biden administration and “international community” — including at the United Nations where the Russian Federation protects and defends Tehran, where Security Council resolutions beneficial to Israel a

President Reagan knew a detent with the Soviet Union wouldn’t win the Cold War. If we take off the gloves and force Soviet communism to compete with American democracy, he thought, the U.S. will prevail. In a phrase: “We win, they lose.” He was right. The U.S. won. The Soviet Union collapsed. But in the decades since as America’s role in the world diminished and the rules-based order decayed, Russia relapsed. And as he puts back the pieces of a shattered Soviet Union one illegal land-grab at a time, Putin is hardly the only despot hellbent on resurrecting an imperial renaissance in the shadows of American retrenchment.Also jonesing for a rise from the ash heap of history are the Islamist regime in Tehran and Chinese Communist Party in Beijing. Together with Moscow, they’ve formed a neo-imperialist axis to take on the West in a New Cold War. With the U.S. facing multiple nuclear-powered adversaries in a conflict for the first time ever, the second Cold War is shaping up to be far more dangerous than the first.

After World War II, the United States attempted to construct something new: a liberal, American-led, rules-based international order that would promote human rights, Enlightenment values, and democracy.Today, the dictatorial rulers of China, Russia, and Iran are attempting to establish something different: a world order that is radically illiberal with rules made in Beijing, Moscow, and Tehran, and hostility regarding human rights, Enlightenment values, and democracy.This is one of the topics on the mind of former National Security Advisor and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton.He joins host Cliff May for an in-depth discussion.

In Gaza, Israelis are fighting a ground war – and an underground war – against Hamas, a proxy of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Israelis also are responding to missile attacks from Hezbollah, Tehran’s Lebanon-based foreign legion. These are serious conflicts. But they are not separate conflicts. And they could be something else – something worse.Mark Dubowitz, FDD’s chief executive, worries that they could be what he calls “weapons of mass distraction” — a way to divert the attention of Israel’s military, intelligence, and political establishments, along with those of the Biden administration, from a more threatening development: the advance of Tehran’s nuclear weapons program.Mark and Eyal Hulata, former Israeli National Security Advisor and now the first foreign visiting fellow at FDD, join host Cliff May to discuss what Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei wants to achieve while he’s alive and the legacy he wants to leave behind.

Next month marks 30 years since the onset of the world’s worst mass slaughter since the Holocaust: the Rwandan genocide.Among the forces that ushered in an end to the conflict was a military officer who would ultimately become Rwanda’s president: Paul Kagame.FDD’s RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery recently met with President Kagame and other senior officials in Kigali.In addition to a debrief on his trip, Adm. Montgomery joins host Cliff May to discuss Russian and Chinese neo-imperialism in Africa; the environmental harm being caused by the exploitative extraction of cobalt and other minerals necessary for an “energy transition”; the wars in Sudan, Ethiopia, and Libya, what BRICS is building; the spread of Islamism and jihadist violence in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and other African countries.

Joining Cliff for this episode is Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby, whose first column appeared 30 years ago this week. Jeff’s career as a journalist has included interviews with Elie Wiesel and Mikhail Gorbachev, and on-the-ground reporting from such exotic locales as Cuba, the Korean DMZ, and Gaza.Cliff asks Jeff how he came to his world view; what he saw in Gaza during visits from the 1970s to early 2000s; why a “Hitlerian” variant of antisemitism has reemerged; and what lessons might be learned from Israel’s experiments and experiences.

Given the mandate of the United Nations, you might think a genocide perpetrated by a terrorist organization against a democracy in the Middle East would be an opportunity for the UN to exercise its moral authority — perhaps even an obligation, considering the U.S. tax dollars that bankroll it.But you’d be wrong.The UN doesn’t recognize Hamas as a terrorist organization. Moreover, when the UN uses the word “genocide,” it’s not talking about the aims of Hamas per its charter nor what Hamas did on October 7 and pledges to do again. When the UN uses the word “genocide,” they are referring to Israeli self-defense.Why is the UN not standing up for the principles upon which it was founded? Is reform even possible at this point?Host Cliff May is joined by FDD experts Bonnie Glick and Richard Goldberg to discuss.Bonnie GlickBonnie Glick is an adjunct senior fellow at FDD. She served as the deputy administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) from January 2019 to November 2020. She was

As Israel's defensive war in Gaza enters its fifth month, host Cliff May is joined by FDD experts retired Major General Amir Eshel and retired Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery to talk about the current state of the war including how many Hamas terrorists are thought to remain active on the battlefield in Gaza; the whereabouts of Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif; and IDF efforts to reduce civilian casualties during what’s expected to be a major battle in Rafah.They also discuss the threat from Hezbollah across Israel’s northern border in Lebanon; the impact of Ramadan which begins on March 10; whether weapons from Iran’s rulers could still be flowing into Gaza through tunnels under its Egyptian border; what Egypt is and should be doing; what the U.S. stands to learn from Israel’s hard lessons on and after October 7; and President Biden’s changing rhetoric on the Hamas-Israeli war.

The U.S. is in a decisive moment. Harried by turmoil and challenges at home, many Americans look overseas and see a world on fire.Ukrainians are fighting for their lives against Putin, wondering whether the west will abandon them; Beijing is undertaking an unprecedented military expansion in preparation for potential aggression in the Taiwan Strait; Iran-backed terrorists are attacking U.S. troops in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan, while waging the worst campaign against international shipping in decades; and Israel is trying to finish the job against Hamas in Gaza while eyeing Hezbollah, the Iranian nuclear program, and concerning political pronouncements in Washington.Guest host Bradley Bowman is joined by fellow FDD expert RADM (Ret) Mark Montgomery to discuss the essential state of play in Taiwan, Ukraine, and Israel; why the outcome of their struggles matters to Americans; and what role the U.S. should play in helping them.

Jeffrey Herf has a new and timely volume on the current moment. It’s title: “Three Faces of Antisemitism: Right, Left and Islamist.” He joins host Cliff May to discuss the multiple manifestations of Jew-hatred – a growth industry since the terrible pogrom of October 7, 2023. 

Colonel Richard Kemp has spent three decades fighting terrorists and insurgents around the world, including as commander of British forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. He has been present during each conflict between Israel and Hamas since 2008 and has been in Israel since the beginning of the current Gaza war.   Col. Kemp joins Cliff to discuss why Israel is not guilty of genocide and why Hamas, Hezbollah, and their patrons in Tehran are; the measures taken by Israel to reduce civilian harm — including their unparalleled ratio of civilians to combatants killed — in what the Col. calls the “single most challenging battlefield”; how South Africa and other members of the so-called ‘international community’ reinforce Hamas’ use of human shields; and the Colonel’s thoughts on the recent U.S.- and UK-led defensive strikes targeting Houthi assets in Yemen.Col. Kemp also shares a battlefield assessment from his time spent in Ukraine and explains to Cliff why he fears the war is likely to end in defeat for Kyiv.