Hezbollah’s soul-searching reveals its defeat While it is too early to eulogize Hezbollah, it seems that Lebanese President-elect Joseph Aoun’s ambitions to implement “one army for one state” and, by implication, disarming Hezbollah send a strong signal about the group’s future. Raphael G. Bouchnik-Chen Feb. 6, 2025
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid: A shepherd without a flock Lapid’s unilateral approach to foreign policy could have profound consequences. That Israel's prime minister seems to have nothing to say on this matter is unsettling. Raphael G. Bouchnik-Chen Aug. 16, 2021
Warning signs out of the ‘Anyone but Bibi’ camp We have never before seen Israel’s political parties make hatred for one politician the focus of their campaigns. In the dangerous game these politicians are playing with Israel’s future, the ends justify the means. Raphael G. Bouchnik-Chen March 14, 2021
The emerging US standpoint on moderate Arab states The projected return of “politically correct” values to the center of U.S. foreign policy, in addition to President-elect Joe Biden’s commitment to return to the JCPOA, are the stuff of nightmares for Cairo and Riyadh. Raphael G. Bouchnik-Chen Dec. 22, 2020
The renewed Western Sahara conflict and the Abraham Accords The timing of the Polisario Front’s unanticipated provocation against Morocco may be related to the ongoing U.S.-sponsored diplomatic initiative on an Israel-Morocco normalization agreement. Raphael G. Bouchnik-Chen Dec. 10, 2020
France’s showdown with the Islamic world The beheading of schoolteacher Samuel Paty marks the start of what might turn out to be all-out war between France and the Islamic world with Turkey’s Erdoğan leading the Muslim charge. Raphael G. Bouchnik-Chen Nov. 1, 2020
Despite everything, another Israeli lockdown There’s no escaping the impression that many critics aim for a general breakdown as a means of removing the prime minister from office. Raphael G. Bouchnik-Chen Sept. 17, 2020
The IDF’s flight from South Lebanon: The intelligence dimension The current threat to Israel posed by Hezbollah is the outcome of the hasty Israeli withdrawal from the security zone in South Lebanon in May 2000. Raphael G. Bouchnik-Chen Aug. 10, 2020
What’s in a name? The Israeli-Palestinian case Did the Jewish state commit a historic misjudgment by selecting the name “Israel”? Raphael G. Bouchnik-Chen July 5, 2020
