Meir Ben-Shabbat: There is a difference between difficult conditions that emerge from a lengthy war and intentional starving on Israel’s part. If Hamas will release the hostages and disarm, the war will end.

Instead of defending itself, apologizing and explaining, Israel should promote the plan for voluntary immigration from Gaza … while putting Hamas under pressure.

Israel needs to continue its war until it reaches all of its goals. This is an existential war for Israel.

Published in The Media Line, July 30, 2025.

Lahav Harkov: Israel needs a formal, professional, civilian body responsible for public diplomacy, with a budget and full-time paid personnel enabling it to operate more fully at all times, not only in wartime. Having consistent names and faces that journalists and the public know will allow for more effective communication when a crisis breaks out.

Published in Mishpacha, July  29, 2025.

Prof. Kobi Michael:The reopening of the IDF’s field hospital in southern Syria serves as a clear signal that Israel is not abandoning its allies.

Israel needs to maneuver between the need to protect its vital security interests, the ethical-historical commitment to the Druze citizens of Israel and the Druze minority near its borders, and the need to establish coordination and cooperation mechanisms with a stable and non-hostile Syrian regime as a basis or infrastructure for further cooperation and for Syria’s inclusion in the new regional architecture in the spirit of U.S. President Trump’s vision.

Published in JNS, July 30, 2025.

Prof. Kobi Michael: Unfortunately, we didn’t do that. We didn’t choose any strategic path or stick to it. We’ve been dancing something like a Yemenite dance—two steps forward, one step backward—and eventually we found ourselves in this mess.

Now we are reaching this option while being in the worst position with regard to the international community, and after paying very heavy prices in every aspect one can think of.

The interview took place on ILTV on July 28, 2025.

Prof. Kobi Michael: Erdogan has ambitions to make his country the dominant regional power and “expand Turkish hegemony in the broader Middle East,” with Syria a key target.

Israel’s agenda in Syria is different. We don’t have any territorial demands there, but as long as we are not sure the regime in Syria is stable enough and reliable enough, we will remain there.

Published in MSN, July 28, 2025.

Arsen Ostrovsky: You can have 100 countries saying the earth is flat and that won’t make it true.

Published in Jewish Journal, July 26, 2025.

Ruth Wasserman Lande: We tend to focus constantly on the Israel–Palestine conflict — the Muslim-Jewish, Arab-Israeli dynamic. But I want to offer a different lens. If we take a step back and look globally, the core struggle is actually between Shiite and Sunni Muslim extremists. Within that larger battle, we are caught in the middle. Both sides are striving to establish an extreme global caliphate based on Sharia law — one according to Shiite principles, the other Sunni. And what lies at the center of their ambitions? Jerusalem. That’s what makes us a target — not just Israel, but also America, Europe, Canada, and Australia. Understanding this broader context helps us better analyze events like October 7, the aftermath, and the recent 12-day Iranian-Israeli war.

The full conversation took place before student representatives in Washington, USA.

Prof. Kobi Michael: I’m not familiar with any such report, but I am familiar with many warnings that were published by international organizations about the catastrophe that exists in Gaza and how in two months or so, 40 or 50,000 people will die because of hunger, but nobody has died because of hunger, because there is no hunger, if there are some local problems of supply, it is because of Hamas – not because of the IDF.

Hamas loots, robs and steals the humanitarian aid, partially for themselves, to feed themselves and the rest is sold in very high prices to the local population in order to make money..

Published in Fox News, July 22, 2025.

Prof. Kobi Michael: A temporary Israeli military occupation of Gaza is the best option for Israel if ceasefire talks fail. According to my understanding no entity on the planet is willing to dismantle Hamas entirely bar the Israeli military, so eventually this is only valid option we really have. Israel should gradually move from military occupation to handing control to a new civilian governing body over two to three years.

There is a risk to hostages with ongoing fighting but the Israeli assumption is that they are the most significant asset Hamas has left, therefore they will do the most to keep them alive as their ultimate insurance policy.

Published in The National News, July 22, 2025.

Meir Ben Shabbat: The events in Syria provided the whole world with an opportunity to see again what Jolani’s [Ahmed al-Sharaa] ‘base’ looks like. This does not mean that Israel should give up on the possibility of political arrangements while exploiting Jolani’s current weakness, but it requires calibrating expectations and ensuring that we do not give up on other interests just for the chance of an agreement.

Israel’s intervention had been a strategic necessity to secure its border.
The takeover of this region by extremist Sunni elements could allow the establishment of hostile elements and jihadist terrorists near the border and across the entire southern Syrian Golan. Israel’s intervention was intended to send a clear message: there will be no change in the balance of power in the southern Syria region without Israel’s consent, nor will there be a deployment of capabilities that could threaten Israel within a distance determined by it (in other words: defining a demilitarized zone).

Published in JNS, July 22, 2025.