Washington Has Pulled Its Forces Out of Iran’s Easiest Reach and Pointed Its Airlift at Israel. The Satellites Show a Force Ready for a Short War, with Its Third Carrier Still in the Pacific.
Mosque Enjoys Close Ties to City Hall, Local Police
Iraqi-Iranian Security Treaties Reveal the Illusion of National Control
The Question Matters Because the Conflict with Iran Has Not Ended
He Is an Opponent of a Regime That Shoots, Hangs and, Since 1979, Has Kept Intellectuals and Filmmakers in Prison
800,000 People in Southwest Yemen Are Currently Staring Down the Wrong End of Possible Starvation, with No Force Waiting in the Wings to Remedy the Situation
More than One Stakeholder Among Many, Ethiopia Is a Determinant of the Regional Balance of Power
Canberra Sits Beside Muslim-Majority Democracies Where Brotherhood Thinking Entered Mainstream Politics Decades Ago
Turkey Believes It Can Spark a Sectarian Crisis and Then Leverage U.N. Diplomacy to Empower Indian Muslims to Further Divide the Country
By Pushing a Turk for the Position, Erdoğan Seeks to Extend His Policy Reach and Implement His Ideological Program
As Mogadishu Fights Its Political Rivals, Al-Shabaab Recovers Territory in Central Somalia
The Brotherhood Is at Once an Organization That Can Be Designated and a Worldview That Cannot
The Prime Minister Has Long Pushed to Topple Mullahs in the Islamic Republic
Jerusalem and Washington Must Start Treating Corozal as a Critical Logistical Node Rather than a Venue for Symbolic Grievance
A Knesset Member Said in August That the Israeli Arab Parties Would ‘Put Israeli Democracy to a Test’
Spotlight on Israel Election
Israel’s October 27 Knesset election is the first since the October 7 massacre, and the attack hangs over the campaign. Reports of unheeded warnings before the attack, settler violence in the West Bank, and draft exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox have shaped the race. The final polls showed neither Netanyahu’s bloc nor the opposition near the 61 seats needed to govern, pointing to difficult coalition talks.
MEF analysts examine Netanyahu’s political standing, the case for a unity government that breaks the deadlock between the two blocs, and what the result means for Israel’s neighbors, starting with Egypt. MEF’s Israel Vote 2026 tracker collects every published poll.
MEF analysts examine Netanyahu’s political standing, the case for a unity government that breaks the deadlock between the two blocs, and what the result means for Israel’s neighbors, starting with Egypt. MEF’s Israel Vote 2026 tracker collects every published poll.
The Elections Are Taking Place Against a Background of Ongoing Regional Conflict, Triggered by the Worst Security Disaster in Israel’s History
If Israeli Voters Elect a Government Committed to Unyielding National Resolve and Military Capability, Israel’s Strategic Value Across the Middle East Will Remain Intact
The Prime Minister Has Downplayed the Attacks and Cast Doubt on Reports of Them, Even Going So Far as to Contradict the IDF
The Root of Cairo’s Vulnerability Is Fundamentally Economic
If Arab Governments Warned Netanyahu of the Hamas Attack, His Claim That Intelligence Was Withheld From Him Collapses
One Leader Failed to Act on a Warning—the Other Turned Danger Into a Peace Treaty and Destroyed a Nuclear Reactor
Spotlight on Erdoğan’s Turkey
Under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey is projecting power far beyond its borders. On October 20, Libya’s eastern parliament endorsed the maritime deal Ankara signed with Tripoli in 2019, a line that cuts across Greek waters off Crete and Rhodes. A secret Turkish document shows officials compiling the names of Erdoğan critics who joined peaceful demonstrations in Norway, Finland and Denmark.
MEF analysts follow Ankara’s reach from the Eastern Mediterranean to Haiti, where Turkey refused to extradite a suspect in the 2021 assassination of the country’s president, and to the United Nations, where Ankara is weighing a candidate for secretary-general. They also ask whether Israel and Turkey are headed for conflict.
MEF analysts follow Ankara’s reach from the Eastern Mediterranean to Haiti, where Turkey refused to extradite a suspect in the 2021 assassination of the country’s president, and to the United Nations, where Ankara is weighing a candidate for secretary-general. They also ask whether Israel and Turkey are headed for conflict.
Israel and Turkey Are Increasingly Finding Themselves on Opposite Sides of the Region’s Most Consequential Flashpoints
The Intelligence Collected on the Demonstrators Was Transmitted to the Counterterrorism Department of the Turkish National Police
By Ignoring Benghazi, the State Department and Many in Europe Opened the Door to Turkey to Seize Advantage
The Agreement Matters to Israel Because the Maritime Dispute Touches Its Ties with Greece, Cyprus and Egypt
Washington Should Consider Feridun Sinirlioğlu’s Ideas for Reforms and His Approach to Security Council Decisions
A Sweeping U.S. Lawsuit Accuses Binance of Helping Finance Hamas and Other Iran-Backed Groups
Middle East Quarterly - Fall 2026
Founded in 1994 by Daniel Pipes, MEQ is the Middle East Forum’s journal intended for both scholars and the educated public. Policymakers, opinion-makers, academics, and journalists write for and read the Quarterly, which is known for exclusive interviews, in-depth historical articles, and book reviews on subjects ranging from archaeology to politics and on countries from Morocco to Iran.
Fall 2026 Volume 33: Number 4
Fall 2026 Volume 33: Number 4
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Forum Calls on Michigan Officials to Stop Funding and Honoring These Institutions Until They Review What Is Preached There, and on Every State and Washington to Ask the Same Questions -
Seth D. Kaplan Maps a Path to Replacing the Islamic Republic with a Stable, Democratic, and Internationally Integrated Iranian State. -
Suspension and Debarment Give HHS the Tools to Ensure These Groups Never Receive Another Taxpayer Dollar -
‘Shattering the Palestinians’ Hope of Defeating Israel’ Argues That Israel’s Military Achievements Since October 7 Are Necessary but Not Sufficient
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‘We Took Our Foot off the Gas at Just the Wrong Moment’ -
Classical Liberalism Was Hijacked by a ‘Red-Green Alliance’ of Leftist Marxists with Islamists -
The Post-National Elite Pursuing Rapid Demographic Transformation via Migration Is the Driving Factor Delegitimizing the Preferences of the Historical Native Population -
Although There Are Tensions Due to Pressures from the Arab World, the Important Relationship Between Amman and Jerusalem Must Be Sustained and Maintained
Middle East Forum Observer
Founded in 2024, the Observer provides rapid analysis on leading Middle East developments, from Marrakech to Mashhad and the Bab el-Mandeb to the Black Sea.
Launched in 2006, Islamist Watch is a project of the Middle East Forum. We work to combat the ideas and institutions of lawful Islamism in the United States and throughout the West. Arguing that “radical Islam is the problem, moderate Islam is the solution,” we seek to expose the Islamist organizations that currently dominate the debate, while identifying and promoting the work of moderate Muslims.
CAMPUS WATCH, a project of the Middle East Forum, reviews and critiques Middle East studies in North America with an aim to improving them. The project mainly addresses five problems: analytical failures, the mixing of politics with scholarship, intolerance of alternative views, apologetics, and the abuse of power over students. Campus Watch fully respects the freedom of speech of those it debates while insisting on its own freedom to comment on their words and deeds.
Gaza
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A Settlement Built on Anything Less than Genuine Palestinian Acceptance of Israel’s Permanence Will Not Hold -
Crushing the Palestinians’ Hope of Imposing Their Will on Israel Is the First Condition for Resolving the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict -
The British Greens Have Officially Adopted the Destruction of Israel as a Policy Goal
Islam
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Western Policymakers Cannot Ignore the Religious Dimension, but Should Not Reduce Extremist Movements to Religion Alone -
The Red-Green Alliance Is a Strategic Convergence of Leftist Revolutionaries and Islamist Radicals, Aimed at the West and at the U.S.-Israel Partnership -
When Someone Advocates for or Commits a Violent Act in the Name of a Religion, Must They Hold an ‘Extremist’ View of the Religion, or Could There Be a Problem with the Religion Itself? -
It Is Necessary to Make the Distinction Between the ‘Rational Virtue’ of Well-Modulated Empathy, on the One Hand, and Suicidal Empathy, on the Other
Muslims in the US
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In their own words, on their own video, Michigan Islamist preachers curse America and pray for jihad. Their institutions took $47.4 million in public money. -
Because Letting Somalis Into America Is Strictly for High-Stakes Gamblers, the Only Safe Bet with Them Is to Just Refrain -
Will the Federal Government Do Anything to Stop Islamists from Using Tax-Exempt Nonprofit Groups to Influence U.S. Elections? -
Newton, Massachusetts, a City of 90,000 with Close to 18,000 Jewish Residents, Has Hired a Teacher with Apparent Family Ties to Hamas
