This week, Middle East Policy published two new articles of original research as part of the Early View of its Summer 2025 journal: an exploration of Benjamin Netanyahu’s cognitive beliefs and how they have affected his prosecution of the Gaza war, and an analysis of the Abraham Accords and how Israel’s refusal to countenance Palestinian autonomy is likely to doom any further political recognition among key regional states, especially Saudi Arabia.
Four of the articles of original research in the summer journal are open access, available in full text to all readers, even those without a subscription. The table of contents of the summer issue is below.
This week’s new articles tackle key concerns as Israel continues to pound the Gaza Strip. Emir Hadžikadunić and Marko Ćuže conduct a sweeping analysis of Netanyahu’s speeches over the first year of the war to understand his belief system and how this has affected his approach to retaliation for the October 7 attacks. They find that the Israeli prime minister believes his country is better able to control events and will benefit from an aggressive use of power. More important, perhaps, he perceives that Israel’s enemies are playing a game of chicken and will back down.
The authors write that their findings show Netanyahu “may continue to favor escalation against Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran. This could change if Netanyahu alters his belief system, if the Israelis were to replace the prime minister…or if exogenous factors, such as pressure from the United States, override Netanyahu’s cognitive constraints.”
As for regional diplomacy, the article on the Abraham Accords by Mahmood Monshipouri, Manochehr Dorraj, and John Fields argues “that the Gaza war has returned Palestinian statehood to center stage and demonstrated that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains a barrier to achieving peace.” The authors show that Netanyahu and his far-right government have not simply bombed Gazans but made an array of moves that major Arab states like Saudi Arabia, which has not yet joined the accords, cannot ignore: pressing for Greater Israel, calling for the annexation of large parts of the occupied territories, and moving deeper into Lebanon and Syria. They conclude: “Addressing the Palestinian question continues to be central to expanding the Abraham Accords, is a prerequisite for regional stability, and is a moral imperative.”
The 164th issue in more than four decades of Middle East Policy also features a new review of Max Boot’s Reagan: His Life and Legend by editor A.R. Joyce, who teases out the eerie similarities but major differences between the 40th US president and Donald Trump. “Only if Trump can muster the courage to defy Netanyahu and force Israel to allow a path toward a Palestinian state—on the currently occupied territories—will he possibly be remembered for achieving anything like Reagan’s deals with the Soviet Union,” Joyce writes.
The new edition of Middle East Policy is anchored by Thomas Juneau’s open-access analysis of Iran’s “annus horribilis” in 2024. Among the other open-access articles are Iftah Burman and Yehuda Blanga’s examination of Hezbollah’s criminal enterprise from 1985 to 2005; Chen Kertcher and Gadi Hitman’s explanation of how middle powers like Israel and Syria try to achieve their interests; and Fred H. Lawson and Matteo Legrenzi’s analysis of the shifting relationship of the United States and United Arab Emirates, a dyadic protectorate that has allowed the smaller state to slowly gain confidence in forging its own path.
Middle East Policy, Summer 2025—forthcoming in June!
THE LONG ARC OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC
Iran’s Annus Horribilis in 2024: Beaten, but Not Defeated
Thomas Juneau—open access!
Conjuring an Enemy: US Discourse and Policy on Iran, 1979–88
Annie Tracy Samuel
ISRAELI POLITICS, AT HOME AND ABROAD
Military Reservists and the Resistance to Netanyahu’s Legal Overhaul
Guy Ziv
The Impact of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Beliefs on Israel’s War against the Axis of Resistance
Emir Hadžikadunić, Marko Ćuže
The Gaza War and the Future of the Abraham Accords
Mahmood Monshipouri, Manochehr Dorraj, John Fields
WAR AND REBUILDING IN THE LEVANT
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham: Voices of Syria’s New Leaders
Rasim Koç—forthcoming
Lessons from the Syria-Hezbollah Criminal Syndicate, 1985–2005
Iftah Burman, Yehuda Blanga—open access!
THE RESOLVE OF SMALL STATES
Middle Powers and Limited Balancing: Syria and the Post‐October 7 Wars
Chen Kertcher, Gadi Hitman—open access!
Antinomies of Alignment Redux: The United Arab Emirates and the United States
Fred H. Lawson, Matteo Legrenzi—open access!
The Making of a Ruler: Haitham bin Tariq on the Omani Throne
Joseph Albert Kéchichian
BOOK REVIEWS
Omar Ashour, How ISIS Fights: Military Tactics in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Egypt
Reviewed by Manoug Antaby
Birol Başkan, The Politics of Islam: The Muslim Brothers and the State in the Arab Gulf
Reviewed by Gökhan Çınkara
Mohammad Dawood Sofi, The Tunisian Revolution and Democratic Transition: The Role of al-Nahdah
Reviewed by Mohammad Irfan Shah
Hilmi Ozan Özavcı, Dangerous Gifts: Imperialism, Security, and Civil Wars in the Levant, 1798–1864
Reviewed by Hasim Tekines
Max Boot, Reagan: His Life and Legend
Reviewed by A.R. Joyce