BICOM's Podcast

Episode 189 | The Israel – Lebanon maritime border

In this episode Richard Pater speaks to Orna Mizrahi, a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies. With the US negotiator’s imminent return to the region, they discuss the prospects of Israel and Lebanon reaching an understanding over their maritime border.  Orna also shares her assessment of the current threat posed by Hezbollah and the state of Lebanese politics ahead of their Presidential election. Before joining the INSS Orna had a distinguished military career with the IDF and the National Security Council.  In her last role she served as Deputy National Security Adviser for Foreign Policy.  She is one of Israel’s leading experts on Hezbollah and Lebanon.

Episode 188 | How parties elect their leaders in Israel

In this episode Richard Pater and Dr Assaf Shapira, director of the Political Reform Programme at the Israel Democracy Institute, discuss the primary system in Israel. They talk about why parties chose to elect their candidates through different systems and what benefits parties such as the Likud and Labour gain from using the closed primary system. Richard and Assaf also talk about issues are most likely to dominate the election campaign in the Autumn. 

Episode 187 | Biden’s visit to the Middle East: A View from the Gulf

In this episode, Richard Pater speaks to Najat Al-Saied, a Professor at American University in the Emirates, Dubai, to gain a Gulf perspective of US President Biden's recent trip to the Middle East. Richard and Najat discuss the UAE's strategy vis-a-vis Iran, how the gulf views more open security and military cooperation with Israel and why the Abraham Accords are still not viewed favourably among the Arab publics. Najat is a columnist with Al Ittihad (an Arabic-language newspaper published daily in the UAE) as well as Al Hurra (an American satellite television news channel in Arabic). Beginning in January 2021, she joined Israel Hayom as contributor and columnist to the newspaper, and appears on i24 News. 

Episode 186 | Necessity or strategic shift? Biden prepares for trip to Middle East

In this episode, Samuel Nurding speaks to Ambassador (Ret.) Daniel C. Kurtzer on what the Biden administration hopes to achieve from its upcoming trip to the Middle East. Ambassador Kurtzer also lays out a possible Israel-Saudi roadmap for normalisation and examines whether a Middle East NATO is plausible. 

Episode 185 | What happens after the Knesset dissolves itself?

In this episode, Richard Pater speaks to Dr Assaf Shapira, director of  Political Reform Programme at the Israel Democracy Institute. They discuss the latest developments in Israel to dissolve the Knesset and what that means for the many reform bills currently in the legislative process. Dr. Shapira also provides some reforms that lawmakers could enact to make the political system in Israel more resilient. Dr Shapira specialise on political representation, political parties, the role of money in politics, and reforms in Israel's public service.

Episode 184 | Pipelines vs. Interconnectors: Israel and the EU energy relationship

In this episode, Samuel Nurding speaks with Gabriel Mitchell, an expert on Israel’s energy policy, about the new Israel-EU gas deal. They discuss the potential benefits of the deal for the Israeli-EU and Israeli-Egyptian relationship, as well as any potential blowback from Russia. Gabriel also speaks about the latest developments between Israel and Lebanon over their maritime dispute and the likelihood of an agreement being reached soon. Gabriel the currently the Director of Undergraduate Studies for the University of Notre Dame in Jerusalem. He is also a Policy Fellow at the Mitvim foreign policy institute where he specialises on the relationship between energy security and the formation of Israeli foreign policy, international maritime law, and regional politics in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Episode 183 | Understanding decision-making in the Palestinian arenas

In this episode, BICOM Director Richard Pater speaks to Dr Michael Milshtein, a colonel (res.) in the Israel Defense Forces and former head of the Department for Palestinians Affairs in the IDF Intelligence Unit. They discuss the latest threats posed by Hamas. Michael talks about the recent appointment of Hussein al-Sheikh as secretary-General of the PLO and whether recent threats by the Palestinian Authority to end recognition of Israel are genuine or not. They also reflect upon internal Israeli-Arab affairs and the successes and failures of Ra'am as the coalition approaches one year in power. Michael is a senior analyst at the Institute for Policy and Strategy (IPS) at Reichman University and Head of the Palestinian Studies Forum at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel-Aviv University.

 

Episode 182 | Understanding the security context around Shireen Abu Aqla’s death

In this episode, Sam Nurding speaks to military and security analyst Yaakov Lappin. They discuss the causes and fallout to the Jerusalem Police's intervention at last week's funeral procession for Shireen Abu Aqla. Lappin explains why, unlike last year, tensions on the Gaza border have not flared up (yet), as well as the latest reported Israeli airstrike in Syria and whether the invasion into Ukraine is impacting on Russia's policy there. 

Episode 181 | Iran’s regional and nuclear activity

Richard Pater speaks to Dr Raz Zimmt, an expert on Iran at the Institute for Nation Security Studies in Tel Aviv. They discuss the extent of Iran’s influence on the recent wave of terror attacks in Israel. They also examine Iran’s involvement in destabilising activity across the region. Dr Zimmt outlines the latest development surrounding the Vienna nuclear talks, whether the US will remove the IRCG from its terror watch list, Israel’s concerns regarding the JCPOA and how close the parties are to signing a new deal.

Episode 180 | An assessment of US-Israel relations

Richard Pater speaks to Natan Sachs, the director of the Center for Middle East Policy at The Brookings Institution. They discuss the latest developments in the JCPOA nuclear negotiations, whether a deal will actually be signed and the differences between the Netanyahu and Bennett-Lapid governments approach to relations with the United States, especially over the Iranian nuclear issue. They also discuss the broader status of US foreign policy towards the region and how domestic dynamics within the United States influence the country’s policy abroad. They also touch on relations between the US and the Palestinians, the stability of the Gaza Strip and more.