BICOM's Podcast

Episode 84 | Has Iran really stood down?

James Sorene interviews Dr Sanam Vakil, Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House, to discuss Suleimani’s legacy, Iran’s retaliation and how the Iranian regime will steer through 2020.

Episode 83 | Soleimani is dead, what happens now?

Richard Pater spoke to BICOM Senior Fellow, Brigadier-General Michael Herzog, to assess the impact of Soleimani’s assassination on Iranian military capability, what Iran might do in response and whether Israel could be part of the Iranian retaliation.

Episode 82 | The Middle East in 2020

James Sorene talks to Richard Pater and Neri Zilber about BICOM’s new report that tries to predict the major events, political change and military conflict in the Middle East in 2020.

Episode 81 | Israel’s election addiction

As Israel heads for an unprecedented third election in less than 12 months, Ronie Gazit speaks to journalist and Bibi biographer Anshel Pfeffer about how this happened and whether a third election will actually break the political deadlock.

Episode 80 | What do the British public think about Israel?

BICOM's James Sorene and Ronie Gazit discuss the results of the 2019 poll of UK public attitudes to Israel and the Middle East carried out for BICOM by Populus. James also speaks with Rick Nye, Principal & Strategy Director at Populus about the major trends in the survey over the last 5-10 years.

Episode 79 | Netanyahu indicted, what happens now?

Richard Pater explores the legal and political consequences of Benjamin Netanyahu’s indictment by the Attorney General with Tal Schneider from Globes, and Dr Amir Fuchs from the Israel Democracy Institute.

Episode 78 | The US says settlements aren’t illegal, what happens now?

James Sorene speaks to Brig. Gen Michael Herzog and David Makovsky to analyse the US announcement that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are not illegal and to assess what impact it will have on future talks to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. James also talked to Michael Herzog about what we can learn from last week’s conflict between Israel and Islamic Jihad.

David Makovsky's podcast Decision Points, in which David is joined by guests to analyse crucial moments in the US-Israel relationship, can be found here.

Episode 77 | What will Palestinian Islamic Jihad do next?

Richard Pater speaks to Dr Kobi Michael from the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) about the conflict this week between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Richard also interviewed Lilach Even Tzur, from Kibbutz Nirim, about living close to the Israel-Gaza border.

Episode 76 | China's expanding role in the Middle East

James Sorene talks to Sam Nurding who wrote BICOM’s new paper “UK-China relations and the Changing Middle East” and to Dr Andreas Krieg from King’s College London about China’s objectives in the Middle East and how it is expanding trade, investment and arms sales across the region.    

Read UK-China relations and the Changing Middle East here.

Episode 75 | Upheaval in Lebanon and Iraq, deadlock in Israeli coalition talks

James Sorene speaks to Richard Spencer, Middle East correspondent for The Times about protests in Lebanon and Iraq and Ronie Gazit speaks to former Israeli deputy defence minister Ephraim Sneh about coalition talks in Israel and the security challenge posed by Iranian precision-guided missile technology.