Middle East Forum Podcast

From Al Jazeera to Al Aqsa TV, state- or organization-run media outlets dominate Middle Eastern news, with the effect of promoting extremism, denying press freedoms, compromising journalistic objectivity, and covering up human rights abuses. More, they have expanded their operations beyond the region, finding receptivity to their messages around the world. What is the trend of these media conglomerates? What are their outstanding successes and failures? What can be done to counter them?

Congress has long required universities to disclose foreign-funded gifts and contracts to the Department of Education and the American public. Universities have mostly ignored the law as regulators turned a blind eye to an ever-increasing flow of foreign money. Why did the federal government refuse to enforce the law? Where is the money coming from? How deep is foreign influence on U.S. college campuses today? What is the role of Middle Eastern actors in this?

Collin May was director of the Alberta Human Rights Commission (AHRC) in Alberta, Canada until his positive review of a book by MEF's Efraim Karsh caused him to be ousted in September 2022 on the grounds of “Islamophobia.” He is now suing the province of Alberta, charging that his ouster had nothing to do with the book review but with his intent to investigate “a culture of pervasive sexual harassment and bullying” at the AHRC under its previous leadership. How has “Islamophobia” become a tool of political warfare available to all? What impact does May’s ouster have on free speech in Canada? What can be done?

After several weeks off, the Knesset is back. Will the government push through legislation on judicial reform or will it compromise with the opposition?

With 9/11 over two decades behind us, many Americans have concluded that Islamism is no longer a pressing issue of concern. Newspapers and television networks rarely cover the topic. Legislators on both sides of the aisle work with Islamist groups previously deemed beyond the pale. In Europe, by contrast, major media outlets still regularly publish investigations into Islamist networks and government inquires issue warnings about radical Muslim communities in their midst. What explains this difference? What are its implications? How can the counter-Islamist movement re-focus American public attention on the challenge posed by radical Islam?

Today marks Israel's 75th Independence Day. The country remains as politically divided as ever, but it is a domestic issue, not foreign policy, that has become the central issue of contention. What does this signify? Is a compromise in sight? How would that look?

The Islamic Republic has promoted Islamism in the West for decades. Of late, two counter developments are underway. First, the Iranian diaspora has organized against regime efforts. Second, it works to strengthen and encourage the regime’s internal opposition. What has changed in the diaspora? What are its leading figures and institutions? How effective might they be?

Close to the Middle East, with many connections to the region, Greece faces complex geo-political challenges, dominated by an increasingly threatening Türkiye. What are Athens’ best responses to Erdoğan’s multiple provocations? What are the other problems? What are the opportunities?

In the Arabic-speaking countries, the Jewish Holocaust in World War II is not taught in schools and is widely considered a taboo subject. This is in keeping with the Palestinian norm of rejecting any expression of concern regarding Jewish persecution. Given recent peace agreements between Israel and a number of Arab states, are Arabs relating to the Holocaust differently? If so, how? If not, why not?

Despite less international press coverage, Iranians continue to challenge the Islamist regime via demonstrations, economic strikes, and other acts of civil disobedience, organized and led by local neighborhood groups and supported by Iranians abroad. What direction is the uprising taking? What are its major challenges? What role do Iranians outside the country play?

Former Iranian diplomat and senior regime official Mohammad Jaffar Mahallati, now a professor of religion at Oberlin College, stands accused of helping to cover up a mass murder of Iranian dissidents in the late 1980s. Despite his continuing ties to the regime and Hezbollah, he remains securely employed at the college, which maintains radio silence. Is Mahallati unique? What should be done? How to spur Washington to take a closer look at Iranian operatives?

The Palestinians - both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas - have built a strategy based on the hope and belief that they will eventually destroy Israel. What is the nature of this victory campaign? How can Israel learn from it and turn it on its head?

According to Ha'aretz, "Israeli Apartheid Week started in 2005 in Toronto, and since then has become an annual headache for pro-Israeli organizations, a growing concern for Israeli diplomats, and probably the worst time on campus for Israeli students." As the 2023 version ends at dozens of North American universities, we ask: What impact does this event have? Is it growing or declining?

Prime Minister Netanyahu has called for a compromise on the searing issue of judicial reform. While this move may appease reform's opponents, might it cause the government to fall?

What is the proper role of the Holocaust in Israeli life? Some say that peace with the Palestinians requires Jewish Israelis to set aside this memory. Is that right or, rather, should they better understand that traumatic experience?

Abdulrahman Bindamnan spent his childhood studying in Yemen’s Islamic schools. He memorized the Qur'an, a book of 77,000 words, and spent countless hours perfecting his Qur’anic pronunciation. Reflecting on this experience from the vantage point as a graduate student in the United States, he argues that too large a proportion of Muslim children fail to receive a secular education, and instead advance the primacy of revelation over reason. What is the current role of education in the Islamist agenda? What effects do such dogmas have in the West?

Israel's President Herzog offered a compromise on the heated issue of judicial reform. Will it help bridge the gap?

America is currently facing a historic crisis of mass illegal migration at its southern border. Government data reveals an alarming number of migrants on the FBI's terror-watch list caught at that border since Joe Biden became president. A "Muslim-only migrant shelter" has even opened in Tijuana, Mexico. What impact does this migration have on U.S. national security? What needs to change? What are the prospects of that change?

Following years of uncontrolled mass immigration and failed integration of immigrants, Sweden has become a segregated social welfare state. Gang violence, crime, and Islamization are rapidly replacing Sweden’s traditional culture. Following its election success in 2022, the Sweden Democrat party supports a right-wing governing bloc promising to reverse immigration and multicultural policies. After five months, what is the new government’s record on these issues? More broadly, can Sweden even be saved?

The prospect of judicial reform has prompted unprecedented internal opposition in Israel. Why has a compromise not yet emerged? What needs to happen for that to happen?

Palestinians in Gaza are forbidden to express ideas or expose realities that displease Hamas, its Islamist rulers. Whispered in Gaza, a Center for Peace Communications initiative, breaches this blockade by featuring frank testimony from dozens of Gazans. What picture do they paint? How has this series, already viewed more than five million times, had an impact?

Since the Iranian revolution in 1979, European governments usually viewed the Islamic Republic of Iran as not their problem. This perception changed significantly of late due to the women's-led revolt in Iran, Tehran siding with Russia in Ukraine, and Iranian acts of violence on European soil. Is the age of European appeasement truly over? What importance does this have?

PM Netanyahu is pulled one way by his coalition partners, another way by unprecedented protests and foreign critics. Can he reconcile these strains or might the government fall?

Just as marketing has a key role in business development, so it does in U.S. foreign policy, as Ben Rhodes made notoriously known in selling the Iran deal. Marketing also played a significant part in the Trump administration's Middle East accomplishments, including the move of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, the Abraham Accords, and the "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran's regime. How did these efforts come into being? What did marketing accomplish? What general conclusions can be drawn?

Asra Q. Nomani has discovered a network of keyboard warriors who hide behind fake identities and pseudonymous Twitter and Facebook accounts. These digital trolls launch virulent attacks against Muslim reformers and other critics of Islamism who challenge their effort to destroy the American freedom of free speech. What successes has this army had? Is it getting stronger or weaker? How can it be countered?

Increasingly, voices are predicting civil war in Israel over the judicial reform issue. Is such a scenario possible? Have Israeli politics ever been this divisive?

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has begun to reshape realities in the Middle East. Both China and Turkey are playing more prominent roles in the region, while Iran has been afforded a dangerous path to achieving its Islamist goals. How will this impact demographics and geopolitics? Is there any pushback by the West?

The 20th anniversary of the launch of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq approaches next month. Within weeks, Iraq plunged into insurgency and sectarian warfare as competing factions battled for control of the country. Institutions established then still remain in place today; how effective are they? Looking back, what did American policy get right and wrong? What insights does a look back provide for today’s problems?

Abdel Bari Atwan is the London-based editor-in-chief of the online newspaper Rai al-Youm and someone with a long, well-documented record of antisemitism and support for anti-Israel violence. He had been a frequent guest discussing the Middle East on the BBC – until CAMERA UK's exposure ended that. But Atwan is just one of many Islamists featured by the BBC. Why does the network have a penchant for Islamists? With recent changes, might it turn over a new leaf? What can politicians do about this problem?

Five months of anti-regime protests in Iran amount to a monumental clash between the dictatorship and the people. That’s because, unlike previous uprisings in the Islamic Republic, which focused on specific grievances the regime could fix, demonstrators this time appear totally to reject the system in which they live. How much have the protests diminished the regime’s base? Will they win changes? What must happen for a revolution to occur?

With Palestinian violence against Israelis on the rise, why is the Netanyahu-led government so focused on judicial reform?

Per capita, Israel probably has the most international media coverage of any country. That coverage may also be among the most bifurcated, positive and negative. What are recent media trends pertaining to Israel? What is the key predictor of attitudes – religion, politics, or something else? Has social media changed what people know about Israel?

The Netanyahu government's judicial reform have come to dominate Israel's politics by including everyone from the country's president to the U.S. secretary of state. What is at stake and what are the reform's prospects?

In the most recent midterm elections, Islamist-backed candidates did notably well. With a vast political infrastructure in place, a concentrated collection of Islamist groups have worked, with some success, to manipulate the Muslim vote and use it to advance their extremist agenda. However, Islamist influence over the Muslim vote is only as durable as their level of support within Muslim communities. What is the future of American Islamist efforts to influence our politics? https://www.cair.com/press_releases/cair-releases-report-on-congressional-legislative-priorities-in-the-118th-congress/

Adjunct professor Erika López Prater showed two pious, Muslim-drawn images of Muhammad in an art history class in October at Hamline University in Minnesota. When a student complained of "Islamophobia," the university responded by firing López Prater. That in turn sparked a national controversy in which almost everyone criticized Hamline. Have accusations of “Islamophobia” lost currency? Could this be a turning point for Middle East Studies?

How will Israel's new, right-wing government respond to repeated and deadly attacks by Palestinians?

As militaries incorporate artificial intelligence and new air defenses into modern warfare, drones increasingly play a central role. In Ukraine, Russia uses imported Iranian drones to terrorize Ukrainian civilians. Iran drills to target Israeli naval facilities. The West and China race to roll out the best new drones. How will these new systems, combined with ground robots and sea-based unmanned vessels, remake war? How does it specifically affect the Middle East?

Relying primarily on contemporary sources, Raymond Ibrahim vividly tells the story of “eight eminently violent men” who played leading roles fighting Muslims in the era 1100-1500, when Christianity was a “muscular religion.” By recalling those exploits, the author hopes not just to pay tribute to distant accomplishments but to inspire today's Christians.

Israel's Supreme Court ruled against Aryeh Deri, a senior minister in the new Netanyahu government, plus ideological gaps have emerged among the ruling parties and opposition demonstrations are growing; is the government in trouble?

Europe was once the center of Jewish civilization and the source of modern Zionism. It was also the locale of the Holocaust and now largely hostile towards Israel. Some observers notice a recent improvement in European attitudes. Is this real and where are relations heading?

Tehran has attempted to control Iraq since the toppling of Saddam Hussein twenty years ago. The Iranians use every tool at their disposal, from political manipulation to funding militias. Many Iraqis oppose this Iranian project. What is the current state of relations between the two neighbors? How much has Iran succeeded in subduing Iraq? What main obstacles does it face?

After 1½ years in power, what is the current status of Israel's opposition? How much can it influence Netanyahu-led government policies?

Israel's new government appears at odds with Washington over policies. How serious or novel is this tension? How has the history shaped the present situation? Ultimately, what should the two states’ dynamic be?

Israel's ties with Jordan have deteriorated rapidly since the signing of the Abraham Accords in 2020. Refusing to engage in the multilateral diplomatic structures now shaping the Middle East, Amman’s rhetoric toward Israel is increasingly antagonistic. Yet Jordan shares many of Israel's security concerns, relies heavily on Israel for water, gas, intelligence and other security assistance, and also on Israel's new-found partners for financial assistance. Is this position sustainable? What needs to change for the dissonance to resolve?

Could cracks in Israel's coalition and attacks between ministers and parties pose problems for Prime Minister Netanyahu?

In June 2020, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) sued political science professor Nicholas Damask and his Arizona college, claiming that his course on world politics links Islam to terrorism, and thus "disapproved" of the Muslim faith. CAIR sought permanently to prohibit the course but a federal district court dismissed its lawsuit and then the Ninth Circuit upheld that dismissal. Dr. Damask reflects on his experience, on the use of the courts to prevent discussion of Islam, and on lessons from this episode.

Israel's new government has officially described itself as "right-wing." What does this mean for both domestic and international affairs?

Raised in Turkey, star basketball player Enes Kanter Freedom, recently of the Boston Celtics, began to call out human rights violations by Turkey's President Recep Tayep Erdoğan in 2013. Not long after, Freedom's Turkish passport was canceled, his name placed on an Interpol list, and his father imprisoned in Turkey. In 2017, Freedom was the subject of two kidnap attempts by the Turkish government, in Indonesia and Romania. Freedom will recount his life story, his efforts as a prominent public figure to counter oppressive dictatorships, and the price he has paid for taking this stand

At last, Benjamin Netanyahu has formed a government. What are its priorities? Is it as extreme as some suggest?

The Islamic Republic of Iran has aspired, since its establishment in 1979, to export its revolution worldwide, including Latin America. By now, Iranian and Hizballah networks have a presence in virtually every country south of the United States. How does Tehran recruit and indoctrinate in Latin America? What is the impact of these operations? How should Washington respond?