Counterbalance - Ep. 44 | Interpreting Israel’s Domestic Politics

Ep. 44 | Interpreting Israel’s Domestic Politics

06/28/22 • 45 min

On June 20, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid announced their intention to dissolve the Knesset, teeing up the fifth round of elections in four years and setting the state on a course for the formation of a new government. Until the elections, Yair Lapid will serve as Interim Prime Minister while parties attempt to cobble together another governing coalition, including, perhaps, one that sees former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reclaim his former post. Jonathan Schachter, a Senior Fellow with Hudson Institute’s Peace and Security in the Middle East and a former foreign policy advisor to Prime Minister Netanyahu, joins Mike to discuss what to expect from the upcoming elections, how Israeli foreign policy, especially with respect to Iran, might change, and the significance of President Joe Biden’s impending trip to Saudi Arabia.

Previous Episode

Ep. 43 | Navigating the Lebanese Labyrinth

This week, Amos Hochstein, the Senior Advisor for Energy Security in President Biden's State Department, travelled to Lebanon where he attempted to broker an agreement between Lebanon and Israel over their maritime boundary. If successful, Hochstein's mediation will potentially allow Lebanon and Israel to exploit the offshore gas fields in currently disputed waters. Tony Badran, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and one of the most insightful Lebanon analysts in America, is a sharp critic of Hochstein's initiative, which he sees as the latest iteration of a bipartisan American strategic mistake. Tony joins Marshall and Mike to explain his thinking.

Next Episode

Ep. 45 | The Arc of a Covenant

This week's episode features audio from a public event hosted at Hudson Institute where Hudson Institute Distinguished Fellow Walter Russell Mead and Senior Fellow Michael Doran discussed Mead’s new book on the history of U.S.-Israel relations, "The Arc of a Covenant." Mead and Doran discussed, among other things, the themes of the book, the current trajectory of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, and the future of U.S. grand strategy globally.