"A genuine victory narrative would see Israel enter long-term security agreements that do not rely on the exertion of further military force but rather seek ways to stop needing it."
My latest for the @nytopinion.nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/o...
My latest for the @nytopinion.nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/o...
Opinion | Bibi’s Empty Victory Lap
www.nytimes.com
July 9, 2025 at 6:28 AM
"A genuine victory narrative would see Israel enter long-term security agreements that do not rely on the exertion of further military force but rather seek ways to stop needing it."
My latest for the @nytopinion.nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/o...
My latest for the @nytopinion.nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/o...
Reposted by Mairav Zonszein
Good Hold Your Fire episode on the Iran war and what happens now, with @crisisgroup.org’s Richard Atwood, @mairavz.bsky.social, Ali Vaez, @maxji.bsky.social, Yasmine Farouk, and @mwhanna.crisisgroup.org.
www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-...
www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-...
A Twelve-Day War, A New Middle East? | International Crisis Group
This week on Hold Your Fire!, Richard speaks with Crisis Group experts Ali Vaez, Yasmine Farouk, Mairav Zonszein, Max Rodenbeck and Michael Hanna about the uneasy truce between Israel and Iran after t...
www.crisisgroup.org
June 28, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Good Hold Your Fire episode on the Iran war and what happens now, with @crisisgroup.org’s Richard Atwood, @mairavz.bsky.social, Ali Vaez, @maxji.bsky.social, Yasmine Farouk, and @mwhanna.crisisgroup.org.
www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-...
www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-...
Reposted by Mairav Zonszein
I joined this week’s episode of Hold Your Fire with a long list of colleagues - @alivaez.bsky.social, @mairavz.bsky.social, Max Rodenbeck and Yasmine Farouk - to assess the latest on the Israel-Iran war and the prospect of direct U.S. intervention.
www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-...
www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-...
Will he? Won’t he? The Trump Iran Show | International Crisis Group
This week on Hold Your Fire!, Richard speaks with Crisis Group experts Ali Vaez, Mairav Zonszein, Max Rodenbeck, Yasmine Farouk and Michael Hanna about the escalating Israel-Iran war, Israel’s objecti...
www.crisisgroup.org
June 21, 2025 at 4:10 PM
I joined this week’s episode of Hold Your Fire with a long list of colleagues - @alivaez.bsky.social, @mairavz.bsky.social, Max Rodenbeck and Yasmine Farouk - to assess the latest on the Israel-Iran war and the prospect of direct U.S. intervention.
www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-...
www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-...
Soldiers were told to "deliberately, methodically, and systematically annihilate whatever was within the designated perimeter, including entire residential neighborhoods, public buildings, educational institutions, mosques and cemeteries, with very few exceptions” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
Israel military razed Gaza perimeter land to create ‘kill zone’, soldiers say
Combatants’ testimonies describe how areas were destroyed to create ‘a death zone of enormous proportions’
www.theguardian.com
April 7, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Soldiers were told to "deliberately, methodically, and systematically annihilate whatever was within the designated perimeter, including entire residential neighborhoods, public buildings, educational institutions, mosques and cemeteries, with very few exceptions” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
Reposted by Mairav Zonszein
My aunt lives in a village in the north West Bank. About five years ago, an Israeli settlement was built just up the hill from her home. Settlers regularly come down the hill to harass them.
A few night ago, she awoke to Israeli soldiers right under their window.
A few night ago, she awoke to Israeli soldiers right under their window.
March 8, 2025 at 6:18 PM
My aunt lives in a village in the north West Bank. About five years ago, an Israeli settlement was built just up the hill from her home. Settlers regularly come down the hill to harass them.
A few night ago, she awoke to Israeli soldiers right under their window.
A few night ago, she awoke to Israeli soldiers right under their window.
Israel has no good answer for Hamas. My piece for Slate. With thanks to @methsaxon.bsky.social slate.com/news-and-pol...
Trump’s Gaza Fantasy Exposes Israel’s Failure
The nation has no good answer for its nemesis.
slate.com
March 7, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Israel has no good answer for Hamas. My piece for Slate. With thanks to @methsaxon.bsky.social slate.com/news-and-pol...
Far right Finance Minister and de facto governor of the West Bank Bezalel Smotrich is en route to Washington for the first meeting with US officials since becoming a minister in government. Under Biden, Smotrich was boycotted.
March 4, 2025 at 6:46 AM
Far right Finance Minister and de facto governor of the West Bank Bezalel Smotrich is en route to Washington for the first meeting with US officials since becoming a minister in government. Under Biden, Smotrich was boycotted.
I can’t help but feel some
Antisemitism in the Trump/Vance attack on Zelensky
Antisemitism in the Trump/Vance attack on Zelensky
March 1, 2025 at 7:11 AM
I can’t help but feel some
Antisemitism in the Trump/Vance attack on Zelensky
Antisemitism in the Trump/Vance attack on Zelensky
Reposted by Mairav Zonszein
My guess is that Zelenskyy came to Washington exactly in order to show Europeans who they're dealing with
February 28, 2025 at 8:51 PM
My guess is that Zelenskyy came to Washington exactly in order to show Europeans who they're dealing with
You would think this would be a top story in Israel, a cause for celebration, a moment of appreciation for the new emerging Syria.
But it's gotten almost no attention.
www.npr.org/2025/02/27/g...
But it's gotten almost no attention.
www.npr.org/2025/02/27/g...
Syrian Jews return to Damascus for the first time in decades, hoping to build bridges
Thousands of Jews left Syria in 1992, when they were allowed to emigrate. The visit by a small delegation of U.S.-based Syrian Jewish religious figures last week was their first time back since then.
www.npr.org
February 28, 2025 at 8:38 AM
You would think this would be a top story in Israel, a cause for celebration, a moment of appreciation for the new emerging Syria.
But it's gotten almost no attention.
www.npr.org/2025/02/27/g...
But it's gotten almost no attention.
www.npr.org/2025/02/27/g...
"While there appeared to be “genuine concern” among Israeli officials that Syria, under its new rulers, could pose a security threat, the rising tide of attacks appeared “counterproductive to any peace and stability,” I told @washingtonpost.com www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Syrians emerging from dictatorship bristle at new threat from Israel
Israeli attacks are angering Syrians and unsettling the country’s new leaders, who are dealing with multiple crises after the end of Bashar al-Assad’s rule.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 27, 2025 at 10:39 AM
"While there appeared to be “genuine concern” among Israeli officials that Syria, under its new rulers, could pose a security threat, the rising tide of attacks appeared “counterproductive to any peace and stability,” I told @washingtonpost.com www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Things are bad and could get worse, but who would have thought phase one of the ceasefire hostage deal would reach completion. That's a lot.
February 27, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Things are bad and could get worse, but who would have thought phase one of the ceasefire hostage deal would reach completion. That's a lot.
Important to point out though, that Netanyahu carefully caters what goes out into the ether, and he has an interest in his rejection of phase 2 being explicit now. That doesn't mean that's actually how things will go.
The Israeli position on Gaza ceasefire talks, per @chaimlevinson.bsky.social: "As far as Netanyahu is concerned, there is no second stage." We all knew that was his view but now it has been presented explicitly to Witkoff
February 25, 2025 at 7:50 AM
Important to point out though, that Netanyahu carefully caters what goes out into the ether, and he has an interest in his rejection of phase 2 being explicit now. That doesn't mean that's actually how things will go.
Defense minister said the 40,000 people displaced from their homes in Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur a Shams camps will not be allowed to return to their homes in the next year.
Sound familiar?
www.reuters.com/world/middle...
Sound familiar?
www.reuters.com/world/middle...
Israeli defence minister tells military to prepare for 'extended' West Bank stay
Israel has ordered its military to prepare for an "extended stay" in parts of the occupied West Bank as it steps up operations against Palestinian militant groups, the Israeli defence minister said on Sunday.
www.reuters.com
February 23, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Defense minister said the 40,000 people displaced from their homes in Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur a Shams camps will not be allowed to return to their homes in the next year.
Sound familiar?
www.reuters.com/world/middle...
Sound familiar?
www.reuters.com/world/middle...
February 22, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Reposted by Mairav Zonszein
We're in uncharted territory now. The chance of things going off the rail have increased dramatically.
February 22, 2025 at 4:33 AM
We're in uncharted territory now. The chance of things going off the rail have increased dramatically.
On the one hand, Israel is doing everything to dismantle Hamas as a functioning entity , on the other, it is shocked and angry when it is unable to operate as a functioning entity in a place that has been buried under rubble.
February 21, 2025 at 7:32 PM
On the one hand, Israel is doing everything to dismantle Hamas as a functioning entity , on the other, it is shocked and angry when it is unable to operate as a functioning entity in a place that has been buried under rubble.
“The minute the Gaza ceasefire went into effect, the IDF operation started in the West Bank...On the political level, I see it as a way the Israeli government is asserting itself. It’s saying, ‘We still control you,’” I told the @washingtonpost.com
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
www.washingtonpost.com
February 21, 2025 at 7:23 AM
“The minute the Gaza ceasefire went into effect, the IDF operation started in the West Bank...On the political level, I see it as a way the Israeli government is asserting itself. It’s saying, ‘We still control you,’” I told the @washingtonpost.com
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Israel medical team also claims the Bibas children were murdered and not killed in an Israeli air strike, as Hamas claimed.
The Israeli military said that one of the bodies released by Hamas did not belong to any of the hostages held in Gaza, accusing Hamas of violating an already shaking ceasefire reut.rs/4bcxODf
Israeli military says body released by Hamas is not of a hostage
Two of the bodies were identified as infant Kfir Bibas and his four-year-old brother Ariel, while a third body that was supposed to be their mother, Shiri, was found not to match with any hostage and remained unidentified.
reut.rs
February 21, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Israel medical team also claims the Bibas children were murdered and not killed in an Israeli air strike, as Hamas claimed.
Israel is already operating in the West Bank in largest and longest operation since Second Intifada. It’s unclear what doing more of the same will achieve but there is no doubt- all eyes should be on West Bank
www.timesofisrael.com/3-buses-expl...
www.timesofisrael.com/3-buses-expl...
3 buses explode in Bat Yam, Holon in suspected strategically planned terror attack
Buses empty, nobody hurt; bombs may have been intended for Friday morning but had timers incorrectly set; 2 more devices found on buses nearby; police suspect West Bank terror cell
www.timesofisrael.com
February 21, 2025 at 4:59 AM
Israel is already operating in the West Bank in largest and longest operation since Second Intifada. It’s unclear what doing more of the same will achieve but there is no doubt- all eyes should be on West Bank
www.timesofisrael.com/3-buses-expl...
www.timesofisrael.com/3-buses-expl...
Today was an especially wretched today on X, and I remembered I should really be posting here.
February 20, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Today was an especially wretched today on X, and I remembered I should really be posting here.
Reposted by Mairav Zonszein
Ukraine's European backers must decide, collectively & quickly, what they are willing & able to do with no US backing, in Ukraine & for themselves. Relatedly, they should ask who, in & outside the region, they can work with.
With luck, US engagement will continue. But trusting luck isn't a strategy.
With luck, US engagement will continue. But trusting luck isn't a strategy.
February 19, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Ukraine's European backers must decide, collectively & quickly, what they are willing & able to do with no US backing, in Ukraine & for themselves. Relatedly, they should ask who, in & outside the region, they can work with.
With luck, US engagement will continue. But trusting luck isn't a strategy.
With luck, US engagement will continue. But trusting luck isn't a strategy.
Join me in 15 minutes
Online Event | Lebanon-Israel ceasefire: What’s at stake?
🗓️ Today | 17pm Beirut/Tel Aviv | 16pm Brussels | 10am Washington D.C
@crisisgroup.org
t.co/3JJ2dbOSZI
Online Event | Lebanon-Israel ceasefire: What’s at stake?
🗓️ Today | 17pm Beirut/Tel Aviv | 16pm Brussels | 10am Washington D.C
@crisisgroup.org
t.co/3JJ2dbOSZI
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_SfozaD7sRAKu9OHMUdUgSw#/registration
t.co
December 4, 2024 at 2:43 PM
Join me in 15 minutes
Online Event | Lebanon-Israel ceasefire: What’s at stake?
🗓️ Today | 17pm Beirut/Tel Aviv | 16pm Brussels | 10am Washington D.C
@crisisgroup.org
t.co/3JJ2dbOSZI
Online Event | Lebanon-Israel ceasefire: What’s at stake?
🗓️ Today | 17pm Beirut/Tel Aviv | 16pm Brussels | 10am Washington D.C
@crisisgroup.org
t.co/3JJ2dbOSZI
Reposted by Mairav Zonszein
NEW Q&A | Can the Hizbollah-Israel Ceasefire Hold?
In this Q&A, Crisis Group experts Heiko Wimmen, David Wood and @mairavz.bsky.social examine the truce’s terms and the chances that it will hold.
www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-...
In this Q&A, Crisis Group experts Heiko Wimmen, David Wood and @mairavz.bsky.social examine the truce’s terms and the chances that it will hold.
www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-...
Can the Hizbollah-Israel Ceasefire Hold? | Crisis Group
Lebanon and Israel have reached an agreement to end the Hizbollah-Israel fighting that began on 8 October 2023. In this Q&A, Crisis Group experts Heiko Wimmen, David Wood and Mairav Zonszein examine the truce’s terms and weigh the chances that the parties will honour them.
www.crisisgroup.org
December 4, 2024 at 9:56 AM
NEW Q&A | Can the Hizbollah-Israel Ceasefire Hold?
In this Q&A, Crisis Group experts Heiko Wimmen, David Wood and @mairavz.bsky.social examine the truce’s terms and the chances that it will hold.
www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-...
In this Q&A, Crisis Group experts Heiko Wimmen, David Wood and @mairavz.bsky.social examine the truce’s terms and the chances that it will hold.
www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-...
Israel is on the one hand keeping the Palestinian economy in the West Bank on the brink of collapse and at the same time concerned that Iran is funding terror there and admitting people are motivated by economic despair
December 1, 2024 at 6:38 AM
Israel is on the one hand keeping the Palestinian economy in the West Bank on the brink of collapse and at the same time concerned that Iran is funding terror there and admitting people are motivated by economic despair