All Policy Analysis by Dennis Ross

Watch an expert webcast examining the collapse of the year-old coalition government, the impact on President Biden’s upcoming Middle East trip, and the potential consequences for broader U.S.-Israel policy.

The president will still be able to set boundaries with Riyadh—while also addressing other major issues such as national security, rampant energy costs, and normalization with Israel.

A veteran U.S. diplomat reflects on the decades of direct engagement that paved the way to the accords, which have since opened a new avenue for curbing Iran and reanimating Israeli-Palestinian progress.

Some potential allies in the Middle East may not be democracies, but they're not revisionist states either, so the United States cannot afford to write them off.

Two veteran diplomats discuss what implications the Ukraine war holds for multilateral institutions, international law, and the global order they aim to uphold.

Moscow has provided a wake-up call about how actors like Iran interpret habitual demonstrations of U.S. inaction.

If the Ukrainians can hold out long enough to force serious negotiations, Washington must remind both parties that they will need to make several specific—and bitter—concessions.

If Washington wants Putin to act differently, it must demonstrate less risk aversion, whether in Ukraine or in Middle East conflict zones like Syria and Iraq.

Rarely has it been more important for Washington to show it will stand by a friend in response to an attack that could have resulted in many civilian casualties, including Americans.

America’s broad inclination toward retrenchment is unlikely to abate anytime soon, but Israeli leaders can still do much to remind Washington why basic regional stability is so essential to its interests.

Tehran no longer takes Washington seriously, so the Biden administration needs to put the prospect of military escalation back on the table if it hopes to make progress on the nuclear issue.

At great personal risk, Iraqi civil society leaders gathered to demand entry into the Abraham Accords, and their efforts need more American support.

Regional mistakes and setbacks stretching back to the Carter administration did not stop countries from relying on Washington, and the Kabul crisis will be no different in the end.

To dispel confusion among America’s partners and better counter its adversaries, the administration will have to do a better job of integrating its country-specific strategies into an overarching approach for accomplishing larger goals.

In addition to renegotiating key parts of the JCPOA, expanding Israel’s arsenal is the best way to keep Tehran off the nuclear weapons threshold.

Tehran’s provision of training and weapons to regional militants never stopped even under heavy U.S. sanctions, so the Biden administration needs to do much more than just reinstate the JCPOA.

No one is going to invest in massive Gaza reconstruction unless there is a credible mechanism for ensuring that Hamas does not divert the bulk of this material for military purposes.

The administration should take a three-track approach: provide a formula of reconstruction with no rearmament, bolster the PA through assistance conditioned on reform, and broker Arab outreach to open the horizon.

To make the ceasefire a lasting one, Washington should pursue discreet Israeli-Saudi normalization discussions and force Hamas to choose between its rockets and reconstruction.

In addition to seeking Egypt’s help with mediation, the Biden administration needs to recognize that several motivations are driving Hamas in this round, so raising the cost to the group cannot just be measured in military terms.