PODCAST · history
Decision Points
by David Makovsky
Decision Points is a Washington Institute podcast hosted by David Makovsky on key moments in Israel’s history and present. The first season focused on the history of U.S.-Israel relations, the second season examined key Israeli and Arab leaders, the third season explored Israel's contemporary policy dilemmas, and the fourth season highlighted books essential to understanding Zionism, Israel, and U.S.-Israel relations. Season 5 dives into the Gaza war and explores the long-term implications for Israel, U.S.-Israel relations, and the Middle East region. In each episode, distinguished scholars, analysts, journalists, and officials will put the current conflict in perspective and discuss the road ahead. Makovsky is the Ziegler Distinguished Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and Director of its Koret Project on Arab-Israel Relations. He is a former senior advisor to the U.S. Special Envoy for Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations, as well as a sought-
Episodes
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Are Israel and Turkey on a Collision Course? With Tamir Hayman and James Jeffrey
The recent NATO summit in Ankara raised the already high temperatures between Israel and Turkey, two major regional powers. President Trump says he's considering selling U.S. F-35 stealth fighters to Turkey despite the opposition of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Meanwhile, Israel and...
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Can Gaza Have a Brighter Future? With Ghaith al-Omari and Shira Efron
The Gaza war is over, but the misery on the ground continues. Reconstruction in the Gaza Strip has stalled; Hamas refuses to disarm; and the world's attention has moved on to the Iran war and other issues. Gaza remains bitterly divided: Hamas retains its grip on Gaza's densely populated coast…
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The Aftershocks of the Iran War, with Amb. Barbara Leaf and Kirsten Fontenrose
The conflict may be over, but the shockwaves of the Iran war are still spreading. The United Arab Emirates and other Gulf states endured Iranian drone and missile strikes; Iran withstood weeks of bombardment from the U.S. and Israel, which have perhaps the world’s two strongest air forces; and...
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The AI Race in the Middle East, with Avner Golov and Grant Rumley
Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly central to U.S. strategy in the Middle East. AI has played a pivotal role in the current Iran war, even as the U.S. is deepening its AI investments in the region. Israel and the Gulf are also jockeying to become key partners in the regional AI...
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What the U.S. and Israeli Militaries Have Learned So Far From the Iran War with Eliot Cohen and Amir Eshel
Conflicting statements from President Trump leave open the question about whether the Iran war is any closer to being over or whether the significant impasse over the nuclear program remains an impediment. Regardless of the outcome of the conflict, the Iran war has highlighted extraordinary and...
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Will Israel Vote Out Netanyahu? with Gili Cohen and David Horovitz
One of Israel’s most important election cycles is underway. Opposition parties see a rare chance to oust Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, who now heads the most right-wing coalition in Israeli history. Amid the echoes of the wars in Iran, Gaza, and Lebanon…
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Can Israel and Lebanon Move from War to Diplomacy? with Fouad Makhzoumi, Robert Satloff and Sarit Zehavi
Lebanon and Israel held diplomatic talks for the first time in decades after Israel's months-long campaign against Hezbollah. But the ceasefire is shaky: Israel displaced close to a million Lebanese civilians amid fighting with Hezbollah and northern Israelis, with memories of weeks in bomb...
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Who’s Calling the Shots in Iran? With Suzanne Maloney and Raz Zimmt
After nearly six weeks of war, the U.S. and Iran agreed on April 8 to a fragile two-week ceasefire. But Vice President JD Vance left Pakistan Sunday after 21 hours of high-level talks with the Iranians without making progress toward a deal to end the war. President Trump then threatened to…
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Is the Iran War Bringing Israel and the UAE Closer Together? With Amir Hayek and Nadim Koteich
As part of Iran’s retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli war, Tehran has targeted the United Arab Emirates with more than 2,000 ballistic missiles and drones. Senior Emirati officials warn that their confrontation with Iran won’t be fleeting and will strengthen their relationship with Israel, including...
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The Iran War's Second Front—Israel vs. Hezbollah with Hanin Ghaddar and Assaf Orion
As the Iran war shakes the Middle East, Hezbollah has fired missiles into northern Israel, and Israel has struck Hezbollah-related targets across Lebanon, including in the capital Beirut, leaving hundreds dead and hundreds of thousands of Lebanese civilians displaced. In this episode of "Decision...
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What Are America's Objectives in the Iran War? With Dennis Ross, Dana Stroul, Holly Dagres, and Robert Satloff
In this special episode of Decision Points, Washington Institute experts Dennis Ross, Dana Stroul, Robert Satloff, and Holly Dagres sit down with the Institute's managing director, Michael Singh, to assess the joint U.S.-Israeli air campaign against Iran and Tehran's intensifying retaliation.…
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Will Trump Go to War with Iran? with Jake Sullivan and Eyal Hulata
The United States and Iran stand on the brink of war. The Pentagon has deployed a huge amount of air power in the Middle East, and President Trump has set a 10-15 day deadline to decide whether to strike. In the first episode of Season Six, Decision Points host David Makovsky is joined by former...
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Season 6 Trailer
Decision Points is the podcast that gets beyond the noise on tough choices in the Middle East. Hosted by David Makovsky of The Washington Institute, the show brings together top policymakers and experts from Washington and the region for candid conversations about the forces and factors driving...
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Israel into 2025: Building on Regional Successes, Avoiding Domestic Fractures
Israeli society has been through the gambit of emotions in 2024: from the national trauma of the aftermath of October 7th and repeated failed hostage negotiations, to major military achievements that have shifted the regional security landscape. As the nation looks ahead to 2025, healing internal...
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After Assad: Navigating Syria's Power Vacuum and Regional Fallout
After just a few days of fighting, Bashar al-Assad's regime has fallen, and Assad has fled to Russia. However, the collapse of the Assad regime is far from a fairytale ending. The rebels responsible for toppling Assad, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), are designated as a terrorist organization by the...
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Inside the Middle East: How War, Ceasefires, and Trump’s Arrival Are Reshaping the Middle East
The past few weeks in the region have been some of the most eventful in recent history. Hizbullah, the crown jewel of Iran’s proxy network, has suffered a devastating blow, Iran’s air defense systems have been dismantled, and a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon has been established. At...
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Will the Israel-Lebanon Ceasefire Hold?
After more than a year of intense fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, President Biden recently announced a ceasefire, raising hopes that this agreement could save lives, restore stability, and bring an end to the unprecedented escalation that began with the October 7 attacks. But how did this...
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Israel and Iran Tensions: Calculating Risk Amid Conflict
Since October 1st, tensions between Israel and Iran have reached new heights. In recent weeks, we’ve seen significant Israeli strikes on Iranian targets and a weakening of Iran’s proxy network. At the same time, Israel is stretched across multiple active fronts, challenging its traditional…
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Post-Sinwar: Hostages, Succession & Thwarting Hamas Revival
On October 16th, the world was shocked to learn that the architect of the October 7th attacks, Yahya Sinwar, was killed by an IDF infantry unit. Yahya Sinwar’s death was a central goal of the Israeli war effort, and it marks a significant turning point for Hamas leadership, hostage negotiations,...
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Trump & Harris Senior Advisors Contrast Visions for US Middle East Policy
On November 5th, Americans will head to the polls to make a decision that will shape U.S. foreign policy towards the Middle East for years to come. Now more than ever, it is important to understand the critical foreign policy decisions that lie ahead for the United States. With the Middle East at…
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Hezbollah Decapitated?: The War with Israel and Lebanon's Future
The past few weeks have been some of the most pivotal in Israel’s modern history with Lebanon. Recently, Israeli intelligence and operational successes have delivered devastating blows to Hezbollah’s leadership, decapitating its senior command, including the infamous Hassan Nasrallah. With...
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Iran, Israel & Missiles: Roots of Iran's Enmity & Military Escalation
Iran's recent ballistic missile attack on Israel marks a significant escalation in their long-standing enmity. This attack, one of the largest in history, raises critical questions about the future of the relationship and the region at large. As tensions peak, the strategic, political, and...
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30 Years of Peace Under Pressure: Israel and Jordan in Regional Turmoil
October marks the 30th anniversary of the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty, a key moment in Middle East diplomacy. Since October 7th, the relationship between the two countries has been challenged like never before, with cracks appearing in the Israel-Jordan relationship. While Jordan and Israel have...
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Ring of Fire: Iran’s Proxy Network Against Israel and How to Disrupt It
Since Israel’s founding in 1948, it has never faced a reality quite like this: seven active combat fronts, including Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, the West Bank, Gaza, and Yemen. This multi-front war was once the vision of Qassem Soleimani, the late commander of the Iranian IRGC’s Quds Force, who...
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Israel's Wartime Economy: Navigating Crisis and Beyond
Since October 7th, Israel has been grappling with the immense economic toll of a prolonged, multi-front war. While the country’s economy has weathered crises before, the past 11 months have pushed its resilience to the limit. Soaring military expenditures, plummeting tourism, and the costs of...
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Back to School: Lessons from New Study on Israel and Campus Narratives
In the wake of rising campus tensions over the Israel-Hamas war, Jewish students have faced increasing hostility, with a reported 700% spike in antisemitic incidents since October 7. As colleges reopen for the fall, we dive into the complexities of these protests. A recent Brandeis University...
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Evolution of Hamas: Terror, Policy and Politics
On October 7th, 2023, Hamas launched the most significant and deadliest terror attack against Israel in the history of the state. Formed in the late 1980s, Hamas is a Palestinian Sunni Islamist military and socio-political movement. Hamas is dedicated to the destruction of Israel, and the...
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Middle East Crisis Moment: Stakes for the US-Israel Security Relationship
The Middle East is at a crucial moment. Dual retaliatory attacks by Iran and Hezbollah against Israel threaten to tip the region into total war. However, a breakthrough in the hostage-for-ceasefire negotiations in Doha, initiated by the U.S., Qatar and Egypt, may delay or eliminate the attacks…
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Can the Gaza War Bridge the Secular-Haredi Military Draft Divide?
The Gaza War is Israel’s longest battle since its War of Independence in 1948. Wartime demands have put an outsized strain on Israel’s army, reopening the debate over the ultra-orthodox (Haredi) draft and the broader secular-religious fault line in Israeli society. While the Haredim have...
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How Has Israeli Society Changed After 300+ Days of War?
Israeli society underwent a massive shock on October 7 that upended deeply held convictions about the army and the state. The horrors of 10/7 and the immediate demands of war unified Israelis at a time of deep division, but the 300+ days since Hamas’ assault have tested societal cohesion. How…
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A New Calculus for War? Understanding Israel-Hezbollah Dynamics
In recent weeks, the mid-intensity conflict on Israel’s northern border with Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shiite terror group, has threatened to explode into all-out war. With Israel ramping up its targeted killings of top Hezbollah military commanders and Hezbollah launching rockets…
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Allies Under Pressure: The Gaza War and U.S.-Israel Relations
The ten months since October 7th have revealed both the profound strengths and strains of the U.S.-Israel partnership. Are current tensions a temporary consequence of the Israel-Hamas war, or do they represent a new and enduring divide between the two allies? In this episode, Dennis Ross joins...
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The Judiciary Debate and the Future of Israeli Democracy
Host David Makovsky is joined by Prof. Yedidia Stern, president of the Jewish People Policy Institute and former dean of the law faculty at Bar-Ilan University, and Justice Elyakim Rubinstein, Israel’s former attorney-general and the recently retired deputy president of its Supreme Court. After...
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Grappling with the Direction of the New Netanyahu Government
In the season finale, David is joined by Ben Caspit, columnist and author of The Netanyahu Years, and David Horovitz, the founding editor of The Times of Israel, to discuss Israel's returning prime minister and his controversial right-wing government. David and the guests break down the keys to...
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Combating Anti-Semitism in the Middle East and Beyond
David is joined by acclaimed historian Deborah Lipstadt, appointed by President Biden as the State Department's Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism. The two discuss the state of contemporary anti-Semitism, reflect upon the role of the Holocaust in Israel, and draw takeaways...
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Rabbi Kook: Founding Religious Zionism and Those Who Seek to Subvert His Legacy Today
In this episode, host David Makovsky welcomes Yehudah Mirsky, professor of Near Eastern and Judaic studies at Brandeis University, faculty member of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, and author of Rav Kook: Mystic in a Time of Revolution. The two discuss the ideology of Rabbi Abraham…
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Too Much History and Too Little Geography: A Conversation Across the Israeli-Palestinian Societal Divide
Yossi Klein Halevi, Shalom Hartman Institute fellow and author of Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor, joins the podcast to discuss Israeli-Palestinian coexistence with Yousef Bashir, Director of Research & Operations for the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace and author of The Words…
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An Insider's View of the Carter White House: Negotiations with Sadat, Begin, and Assad
David Makovsky hosts veteran diplomat Stuart Eizenstat, who served as Jimmy Carter’s chief domestic policy advisor and whose book President Carter: The White House Years provides an unparalleled view of the administration’s Middle East decisionmaking. In this episode, David and Stuart discuss the...
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Kissinger’s Middle East: Limiting Moscow and Starting a Road to Peace
David Makovsky hosts Martin Indyk, Washington’s former peace envoy and ambassador to Israel, to discuss his recent book Master of the Game: Henry Kissinger and the Art of Middle East Diplomacy. The conversation will focus on Kissinger’s Middle East strategy from the 1973 war to the beginnings of...
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Jabotinsky and the Birth of the Israeli Right
Hillel Halkin, author of Jabotinsky: A Life, joins host David Makovsky to discuss Russian Zionist thinker Zeev Jabotinsky and the origins of the Revisionist movement, which has shaped a great deal of Israel’s political thought over the decades. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more...
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David Ben-Gurion: Leader of the Young State Confronts Momentous Decisions
David Ben-Gurion's term as Israel's prime minister marked not only a new era for the Jewish people, but a starkly different chapter in his own life. Anita Shapira, the author of Ben-Gurion: Father of Modern Israel, joins the podcast to discuss the challenges and accomplishments of this time, from...
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Herzl’s Chutzpah: Unpacking a Founder’s Vision
Shlomo Avineri, the author of Herzl's Vision: Theodor Herzl and the Foundation of the Jewish State, discusses the father of modern Zionism and his legacy. Avineri is director of the Institute for European Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for…
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Genesis of American Support for Israel: The Gentile Push for a Jewish State
Walter Russell Mead, the author of The Arc of a Covenant: The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People, discusses the centuries-long history of Zionism in America, the hurdles Truman overcame to recognize the state of Israel, and the evolution of Israel’s role in U.S. domestic...
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Season 4 Trailer
This season of Decision Points will mark the upcoming 75th anniversary of Israel’s founding by highlighting some of the finest and most cutting-edge books on Zionism, the U.S.-Israel relationship, and Arab-Israeli relations. Each episode will feature in-depth interviews with a group of authors…
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Can the Bennett-Lapid Government Last, and Who Comes After Abbas?
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s visit to the White House this week is a timely reminder of potentially new political dynamics in Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Israeli has just exited the whirlwind of four elections in two years, replacing long-serving Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu with...
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The Abraham Accords One Year Later: Can They Change the Middle East?
August 13 marked the first anniversary of the breakthrough normalization agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates—a deal followed shortly by accords with Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. In addition to strong U.S. mediation, several broader forces brought these countries together,...
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One State or Two States? Trends in Israeli and Palestinian Public Opinion
In recent years, public support for the two-state solution has continued to erode on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide. Each party suspects that the other has completely given up on the idea, further weakening the political will and public trust needed to preserve it. Can leaders lead...
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China's Middle East Gambit
Over the past two decades, China has increasingly challenged America’s economic and political influence in the Middle East, including in Israel. At the same time, Washington remains Jerusalem’s strongest ally and patron, which raises questions about how the U.S. relationship affects Israel’s...
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Israel’s Dramatic Energy Turnaround
After decades of energy dependence, Israel discovered offshore natural gas reserves that have fundamentally changed its energy dynamics and led it to deepen ties across the Mediterranean and the Middle East. The country is suddenly a net energy exporter to Jordan, Egypt, and the Palestinians…
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Hezbollah and Israel: Between Deterrence and Deterioration
Since the 2006 Lebanon war, Israel and Hezbollah have not engaged in major hostilities. Yet while mutual deterrence has averted all-out war, this uneasy truce is weakening. At home in Lebanon, Hezbollah is facing a dire economic and political crisis. Moreover, the group still seeks to convert…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Decision Points is a Washington Institute podcast hosted by David Makovsky on key moments in Israel’s history and present. The first season focused on the history of U.S.-Israel relations, the second season examined key Israeli and Arab leaders, the third season explored Israel's contemporary policy dilemmas, and the fourth season highlighted books essential to understanding Zionism, Israel, and U.S.-Israel relations.
Season 5 dives into the Gaza war and explores the long-term implications for Israel, U.S.-Israel relations, and the Middle East region. In each episode, distinguished scholars, analysts, journalists, and officials will put the current conflict in perspective and discuss the road ahead.
Makovsky is the Ziegler Distinguished Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and Director of its Koret Project on Arab-Israel Relations. He is a former senior advisor to the U.S. Special Envoy for Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations, as well as a sought-
HOSTED BY
David Makovsky
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Decision Points have?
Decision Points currently has 65 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Decision Points about?
Decision Points is a Washington Institute podcast hosted by David Makovsky on key moments in Israel’s history and present. The first season focused on the history of U.S.-Israel relations, the second season examined key Israeli and Arab leaders, the third season explored Israel's contemporary...
How often does Decision Points release new episodes?
Decision Points has 65 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Decision Points?
You can listen to Decision Points on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Decision Points?
Decision Points is created and hosted by David Makovsky.
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