Decision Points
46 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 year ago - ★★★★★ - 76 ratingsDecision Points is a Washington Institute podcast 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, and the third season shifted the focus to Israel's toughest contemporary policy dilemmas.
Season 4 of the podcast highlights a set of books which are essential to understanding the U.S.-Israel relationship and the history of Zionism and Israel. In each episode, authors will unpack their books and engage in striking and insightful conversations.
The host, David Makovsky, is the Ziegler Distinguished Fellow in The Washington Institute's Irwin Levy Family Program on the U.S.-Israel Strategic Relationship and director of the 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-after expert in U.S.-Israel diplomatic relations and territorial solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Guests include Michael Oren, former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S.; Natan Sharansky, a human rights activist and former Israeli government minister; David Petraeus, former CIA Director; and Tzipi Livni, former Israeli Foreign Minister.
The podcast is both a history lesson and an exploration of contemporary policy decisions impacting Israel, the United States, and the Middle East at large.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Episodes
The Judiciary Debate and the Future of Israeli Democracy
February 09, 2023 10:00 - 1 hour - 64.6 MBHost 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 breaking down the history and structure of Israel’s judiciary, they discuss the serious implications that Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s radical reform package could have for the future of Israeli demo...
Grappling with the Direction of the New Netanyahu Government
January 23, 2023 10:00 - 1 hour - 59.2 MBIn 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 Binyamin Netanyahu's long-lasting political career, the evolution of his public persona, and try to understand the trajectory of the new government. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more in...
Combating Anti-Semitism in the Middle East and Beyond
January 16, 2023 10:00 - 39 minutes - 36.4 MBDavid 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 from Lipstadt's travels to the Gulf and Morocco. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Rabbi Kook: Founding Religious Zionism and Those Who Seek to Subvert His Legacy Today
January 09, 2023 10:00 - 54 minutes - 50.2 MBIn 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 Isaac Kook, founder of Religious Zionism, and how his teachings are being subverted by certain members of the modern movement. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Too Much History and Too Little Geography: A Conversation Across the Israeli-Palestinian Societal Divide
December 19, 2022 10:00 - 48 minutes - 44.8 MBYossi 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 of My Father. Halevi and Bashir share personal experiences, common public perceptions among Israelis and Palestinians, and potential steps to narrow the societal divide amid difficult times. Hosted...
An Insider's View of the Carter White House: Negotiations with Sadat, Begin, and Assad
December 12, 2022 10:00 - 56 minutes - 51.8 MBDavid 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 Camp David Accords, U.S.-led negotiations with Syria’s Hafiz al-Assad, an Egyptian-Israeli field trip to Gettysburg, and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Kissinger’s Middle East: Limiting Moscow and Starting a Road to Peace
December 05, 2022 10:00 - 47 minutes - 43.2 MBDavid 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 the peace process. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jabotinsky and the Birth of the Israeli Right
November 28, 2022 10:00 - 49 minutes - 44.9 MBHillel 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 information.
David Ben-Gurion: Leader of the Young State Confronts Momentous Decisions
November 14, 2022 10:00 - 56 minutes - 52.2 MBDavid 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 immigration and Labor party politics to German reparations and nuclearization. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Herzl’s Chutzpah: Unpacking a Founder’s Vision
November 07, 2022 10:00 - 45 minutes - 41.6 MBShlomo 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 more information.
Genesis of American Support for Israel: The Gentile Push for a Jewish State
October 31, 2022 09:00 - 1 hour - 57 MBWalter 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 politics. Mead is a columnist for the Wall Street Journal and a scholar at Hudson Institute. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Season 4 Trailer
October 25, 2022 17:13 - 2 minutes - 2.24 MBThis 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 that includes key diplomats and distinguished historians. The first episode premieres on October 31st with Walter Russell Mead discussing his new book The Arc of a Covenant: The United States, Israel, a...
Can the Bennett-Lapid Government Last, and Who Comes After Abbas?
August 24, 2021 14:31 - 53 minutes - 73.3 MBPrime 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 an extraordinarily diverse coalition. Meanwhile, the PA has postponed its first planned election since 2006 and is still led by President Mahmoud Abbas, who is reportedly eighty-six years old. F...
The Abraham Accords One Year Later: Can They Change the Middle East?
August 17, 2021 14:10 - 43 minutes - 60.3 MBAugust 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, including mutual concerns about Iran, Arab recognition of how Israeli technology could help their societies, and a desire to bolster the stability of pro-Western governments amid questions about America’s ...
One State or Two States? Trends in Israeli and Palestinian Public Opinion
August 10, 2021 14:50 - 56 minutes - 77.5 MBIn 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 the public on this issue, or does the public lead them? Will Israel’s new government attempt to narrow these points of difference, and are the Palestinians still open to such gradualism? In this ...
China's Middle East Gambit
August 03, 2021 14:26 - 36 minutes - 50.1 MBOver 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 policies toward Beijing. On one hand, Chinese investment is enticing—large-scale infrastructure projects at low cost. On the other hand, Israel needs to be mindful of Chinese influence given Beijing’s co...
Israel’s Dramatic Energy Turnaround
July 20, 2021 14:45 - 33 minutes - 45.5 MBAfter 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, while Gulf states have shown preliminary indications that they would like to develop such ties as well. Yet these reserves are also a source of tension with regional neighbors Turkey and Lebanon. What a...
Hezbollah and Israel: Between Deterrence and Deterioration
July 13, 2021 13:54 - 40 minutes - 55.6 MBSince 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 some of its estimated 140,000 rockets into precision-guided missiles, a serious threat to Israel. It has also fired antiaircraft weapons at Israel from Syria in support of Iran’s presence there. Is ...
Putin, Israel, and the Calculated Limits of a Bilateral Relationship
July 06, 2021 14:02 - 29 minutes - 40.5 MBFor decades, Israel and Russia stood on opposite ends of an ideological divide. During the Soviet era, Moscow not only supported Israel’s enemies economically and militarily, but also sought to stamp out any connection between Russian citizens and Israel, refusing millions the right to emigrate. Since the Soviet collapse in 1991, however, relations have turned a corner. Where are Russian-Israeli ties headed today? What are Vladimir Putin’s motivations for involvement in the Middle East, and...
Israel's Gray Zone: Iran in Syria
June 29, 2021 14:31 - 40 minutes - 56.1 MBSince 2015, Iranian forces have increasingly entrenched themselves in Syria as part of a broader effort to bolster the rule of Bashar al-Assad. As this effort began to unfold, Israel feared reenacting the cautionary tale of Hezbollah in Lebanon, where indecision over rooting out the Tehran-backed terrorist group proved to be a decision in itself. To avoid a situation in which Iranian or proxy forces are positioned along the entirety of Israel’s northern border, the IDF has been walking a tig...
Israel's Powder Keg: Hamas in Gaza
June 22, 2021 12:57 - 41 minutes - 56.6 MBIn May, after tensions escalated in Jerusalem, Hamas and Israel broke a two-year ceasefire and were drawn into war. The crisis reminded the world that the ideological differences between the sides are vast. Are Israel and Hamas doomed to face each other every few years? How much of a game-changer was this round of fighting for them, the UN, and key regional players? What are some of the difficult options ahead? In this episode, David Makovsky hosts three expert guests on Israeli-Palestinian...
The United States, Israel, and the Iranian Nuclear Program
June 15, 2021 13:45 - 43 minutes - 59.6 MBWorld attention has focused on the prospects of the United States and Iran finding terms that enable them to return to their 2015 nuclear deal. Yet what does this mean for all the unanswered challenges that President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken say are essential to address in a “longer and stronger” follow-on agreement? How will the United States preserve its leverage for such a second round? What incentives will Iran have to engage in negotiations after a Vienna deal is reached? An...
Season 3 Trailer
June 08, 2021 19:24 - 1 minute - 2.1 MBThis season of Decision Points features episodes on Israel's toughest contemporary policy dilemmas requiring courageous leadership and creative thinking. Topics range from the aftermath of the Gaza conflict to the Israeli-Russian relationship. Each episode will explore a thorny policy issue as well as its context, trajectory, and Israel's options. The first episode premieres on June 15th and focuses on the the Iranian nuclear program. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informat...
Inside the Normalization Agreements Between Israel, the UAE, and Bahrain
November 10, 2020 12:11 - 35 minutes - 81.5 MBFor the final episode of the season, the podcast focuses on a very significant step for Israel: the recent normalization agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Unlike with past peace partners Egypt and Jordan, Israel never fought either Gulf country on the battlefield. However, converging regional thinking, economic incentives, and shifting discourse about the indigenous roots of the Jewish people mean that these agreements have the potential to reshape the Middle East. Th...
Ariel Sharon’s Road from Settlement Building to Gaza Withdrawal
October 21, 2020 13:39 - 36 minutes - 50.7 MBIsrael’s Ariel Sharon gained early renown for his battlefield courage and notoriety for his strident opposition to Palestinian statehood. But Sharon, who served as prime minister from 2001 to 2006, was not an ideologue. When he saw pragmatic opportunities to advance Israel’s long-term interests, he pursued them, explaining his leading role in the 2005 Gaza disengagement plan. The program entailed the evacuation of some eight thousand Jewish residents in twenty-one settlements in Gaza, in add...
Hafiz al-Assad and the Elusive Quest for Syrian-Israeli Peace
October 14, 2020 13:25 - 37 minutes - 51.8 MBFor the past decade, Syria has been a killing field on which the regime of President Bashar al-Assad has been a ruthless perpetrator. As a result, international players now view the Syrian leader as a pariah. Under the rule of Bashar’s father, Hafiz al-Assad, Syria employed harsh tactics and embodied rejection of Israel, but the former president also responded to regional changes amid the loss of his Soviet patron and the end of the Cold War. Reluctantly, he flirted with an Israeli peace as ...
A Behind the Scenes Account of King Hussein and Jordanian-Israeli Peace Ties
October 07, 2020 15:33 - 42 minutes - 59.1 MBWhen King Hussein ascended to the throne at the age of sixteen, he dedicated his life to building a peaceful and prosperous Jordan. His reign was far from simple, however—he faced multiple wars abroad, a civil war at home, assassination attempts, and diplomatic crises. Throughout this tumultuous period, he maintained one secret connection that would only be made official years later: his relationship with Israel. The peace treaty signed by the two countries has endured for over twenty-five y...
The Enduring Debate over Yasser Arafat’s Strategy and Journey
September 30, 2020 13:09 - 33 minutes - 45.9 MBMore than anyone else, Yasser Arafat relished the role of embodying the Palestinian national struggle—even his keffiyeh was shaped to resemble historical Palestine. Some depicted him as a defiant freedom fighter, but he would become reviled by many, especially in the United States and Israel, as an arch-terrorist. His sudden appearance on the international stage came as a peacemaker during the Oslo Accords. What led to that moment, and why couldn’t he clinch the deal to create a sovereign Pa...
Yitzhak Rabin’s Journey from War Hero to Peacemaker
September 23, 2020 12:52 - 34 minutes - 47.5 MBYitzhak Rabin was Israel’s first native-born prime minister, and he personified the national ethos throughout his life. At once pragmatic and patriotic, he fought for Israel’s security, survival, and prosperity in both the military and politics. All of his efforts culminated with the Oslo Accords. In this episode, David Makovsky hosts three people who knew Rabin personally: his ambassador to the United States Itamar Rabinovich, his son Yuval Rabin, and Dennis Ross of the Washington Institute...
Anwar Sadat’s Trip to Jerusalem
September 16, 2020 12:59 - 32 minutes - 45.3 MBOn November 19th, 1977, Anwar Sadat, the President of Egypt and arguably the leader of the Arab world, stepped off a plane at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. This was the first time an Arab leader set foot in the Jewish state. He was going to go his own way for the restoration of Egyptian land and the cause of peace. Join Abdel Monem Said Aly, CEO of the Regional Center for Strategic Studies in Cairo, to discuss Sadat’s road to Jerusalem. Audio Clips Used Dr. Henry Kissinger (Part 3) Midd...
Menachem Begin and the Bombing of the Osiraq Nuclear Reactor
September 09, 2020 13:39 - 32 minutes - 44.7 MBThroughout his life, Menachem Begin held many titles: leader of the Irgun, an underground revisionist-Zionist militia; leader of the opposition; and prime minister. One value motivated everything he did: the protection of the Jewish people and prevention of a second Holocaust. One of the clearest examples of this principle was Operation Opera, the Israeli raid on the Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981. Join Amos Yadlin, one of the fighter pilots involved in the operation, and Dan Meridor, a cabin...
Golda Meir and the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre
September 02, 2020 13:09 - 34 minutes - 46.8 MBRaised in America before emigrating to Israel, Golda Meir was the country’s first and only female prime minister, and one of only two women to sign its declaration of independence. A study in contrasts, she was tough on terrorism but also a key player in securing the release of 200,000 Jews from the Soviet Union in the 1970s, sparking a wave of Russian emigration to Israel. Her legacy is viewed differently at home and abroad. Her tenure coincided with several major threats to Israelis—most i...
Shimon Peres and the Development of Israel’s Nuclear Program
August 26, 2020 13:22 - 34 minutes - 47.7 MBShimon Peres’s contributions spanned the first seven decades of Israeli history, making his life inseparable from that of the country itself. Often remembered as a leading statesman, not a soldier, he is nevertheless credited with establishing the Israeli defense industry and making the controversial decision to pursue a nuclear program—a move predicated on close relations with France, the looming memory of the Holocaust, and numerous geostrategic considerations. In this episode, host D...
David Ben-Gurion and the Decision to Declare the State of Israel
August 19, 2020 13:41 - 34 minutes - 47.9 MBOn May 14, 1948, the British were scheduled to bring an end to the British Mandate in Palestine. The question on the table for the Jewish community in Palestine was existential: to immediately declare a state and risk invasion by better-armed Arab states or accept an international ceasefire? Join leading Israeli historian Anita Shapira to discuss the dramatic cabinet debate and David Ben Gurion’s decision to declare the state. Audio Clips Used Palestine Partitioned - 1947 | Today In His...
Season 2 Trailer
August 03, 2020 16:48 - 1 minute - 2.37 MBThis season of Decision Points features episodes on key leaders on the Israeli and Arab sides, focusing on an intersection between their biographies and a key moment that exemplifies their decision-making, from the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre to Anwar Sadat’s historic trip to Jerusalem. Each episode will tell the story of an important leader, highlighting their contributions to Israeli-Arab-American relations over the last 70 years. The first episode is coming out August 19th on David Ben-...
Can Hi-Tech Transform the U.S.-Israel Relationship?
January 22, 2020 15:31 - 34 minutes - 31.2 MBThis episode discusses the growth of Israel’s hi-tech sector and its impact on relations with the United States. Much of the state’s technological innovation has stemmed from its unique history, geography, and culture, proving that necessity truly is the mother of invention. Today, technology plays a key role in the bilateral relationship, including strong ties between military research institutes in both countries, multiple congressional allocations of hi-tech military hardware in times of ...
The United States, Israel, and the Iranian Challenge
January 15, 2020 14:31 - 34 minutes - 31.5 MBThis episode focuses on the growing threat of a nuclear Iran and U.S.-Israeli efforts to contain it over the years. The two allies have long considered various diplomatic and military options for addressing their shared concerns, though there have been points of disagreement, particularly over the “sunset” limitations put forth in the 2015 nuclear deal. Given the recent assassination of Qods Force commander Qasem Soleimani, recalling the intersections and divergences between their Iran polic...
U.S., Israel and the Palestinians: Oslo, Gaza and Beyond
January 08, 2020 14:16 - 41 minutes - 38.1 MBThis episode focuses on one of the toughest issues in the world, namely efforts by the US to reconcile the Zionist national movement, or Israel, and the Palestinian national movement. The interviews focus on two key moments in recent decades that aimed to bring Israel and the Palestinians closer to peace: the 1993 Oslo Accords and the 2005 disengagement from the Gaza Strip. The Oslo Accords were significant because these talks marked Israel’s recognition of a Palestinian nationalist movement...
Cold War Geopolitics and Freedom for Soviet, Ethiopian, and Syrian Jews
December 18, 2019 15:02 - 35 minutes - 32.6 MBThis episode focuses on the immigration of Soviet, Ethiopian, and Syrian Jewry to Israel, the impact of which has been massive. Over a million Jews moved to Israel at the end of the Cold War alone, greatly increasing its small population and bringing professional backgrounds that helped trigger a high-tech boom. The United States played a key role in all three of these immigration waves, using economic, diplomatic, and military means to support them. Host David Makovsky discusses this trans...
Begin, Sadat and Carter: Camp David Breakthrough
December 11, 2019 16:20 - 33 minutes - 30.9 MBThis episode focuses on the first Arab-Israeli peace breakthrough, the Camp David Accords of 1978. Camp David resulted from Egyptian president Anwar Sadat’s electrifying visit to Jerusalem. It also required political courage from the other two leaders involved—President Jimmy Carter and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, who each took risks that put them at odds with domestic allies. The resultant Egypt-Israel peace treaty has had a remarkable impact on both countries, including an end t...
The 1973 War and the Airlift Delay
December 04, 2019 15:22 - 33 minutes - 30.6 MBThis episode focuses on the 1973 war between Israel and a coalition of Arab states, a surprise conflict that broke out in an era of detente between the United States and the Soviet Union. One key moment came two weeks into the war, when Washington decided to provide $2.2 billion in strategic air resupply to Israel. This military aid helped turn the tide, with Israel soon positioning forces on the western bank of the Suez Canal, advancing within ten miles of Damascus, and encircling Egypt’s m...
The Countdown to the 1967 War: From Embattled Siege to Military Breakthrough
November 20, 2019 15:09 - 30 minutes - 42 MBThis episode discusses the Johnson administration’s policy in the weeks leading up to the 1967 Six Day War. As that conflict drew near, two Israeli missions to the United States, led by Abba Eban and Meir Amit, encountered the same official focus on Vietnam, yet produced different results by asking different questions. In that sense, 1967 was a major turning point not only in Israel’s history, but also in the history of the U.S.-Israel relationship. Host David Makovsky discusses this maj...
The Nadir of U.S.-Israel Relations: Between Eisenhower and Nasser
November 13, 2019 16:17 - 28 minutes - 25.8 MBThis episode focuses on one of the lowest points in the U.S.-Israel relationship: the 1956 Suez Crisis. At the time, President Eisenhower felt betrayed by Israel, France, and Britain for initiating war after Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal. The episode highlights ties with allies alongside his desire to win support for Arab nationalist champion Gamal Abdul Nasser, the Egyptian leader whom the White House hoped in vain would be a bulwark against the Soviets in the Cold War. How did Eisenhow...
From UN Partition to Statehood: The Battle in the Truman Administration
November 06, 2019 14:47 - 34 minutes - 78.6 MBThis episode will focus on the moment when Britain was about to depart Mandatory Palestine and there was heightened uncertainty about whether the State of Israel would be formed. The episode highlights the battle between the personalities and policy differences of President Harry Truman and his advisors, and chronicles America’s dramatic path to recognizing the Jewish State. Host David Makovsky will be in conversation with Ronald Radosh, co-author of one of the preeminent books on Truman an...
The Hidden U.S. Role in the Balfour Declaration
October 29, 2019 20:54 - 30 minutes - 28 MBIn this episode, we will discuss the United States’ little-known role in the Balfour Declaration, and the influence and prominence starting as early as America's founding fathers of the idea of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Host David Makovsky will be in conversation with Michael Oren, the former Israeli ambassador to the United States and a former member of Knesset. Oren received his doctorate in Near East Studies at Princeton University. His book, Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in t...
Decision Points Trailer
October 23, 2019 19:52 - 1 minute - 3.43 MBWe cannot fully appreciate the special bond between the U.S. and Israel without first understanding the highs and lows of this relationship over the past 70 years—how Israel’s first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion believed it was possible that there would be a U.S. military strike against Israel; how the U.S. came to occupy such a central role in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process; or what the internal debate in the U.S. government looked like at the time of the Suez Crisis, the Six-Day W...