- Burak Bekdil
- Paper No. 2077
Power fatigue per se does not fully explain the decline of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He will have a hard time uniting a majority of Turks around the flag and the mosque in the presidential elections of 2023.
Perspectives Papers
Perspectives Papers provide analysis from BESA Center research associates and other outside experts on the most important issues pertaining to Israel and the Middle East.
- Emil Avdaliani
- Paper No. 2076
The announced withdrawal of the US from Afghanistan could represent an opportunity for Beijing to expand its geopolitical influence westward. This would be fraught with security risks for Xinjiang and Central Asia. Beijing might be creative in how it manages the Afghan problem, possibly establishing a quartet of states that share not only security and economic interests but a deep revulsion toward an America-led world order.
- Prof. Hillel Frisch
- Paper No. 2075
Israeli concessions in Jerusalem led to the recent outbreak of serious fighting, but insisting on the flag parade led to relative calm. Will the new leadership of Bennett and Lapid take this to heart, or will Israelis pay the costs of a misguided belief in concessions?
- Burak Bekdil
- Paper No. 2074
Turkey’s string of failures and increasing isolation in the Eastern Med have forced President Erdoğan to recalibrate his policy toward the region.
- Emil Avdaliani
- Paper No. 2073
The shrinking of the American presence in Eurasia will accelerate the creation of new spheres of influence. The US will still be a prominent player, but its power will be significantly curtailed and the global institutions it has built will decay—the inevitable result of illiberal states ganging up on the last remnants of the liberal order remaining in the heart of Eurasia.
- Larry D. Weiss
- Paper No. 2072
Those who advocate for Israel often take a defensive posture in response to endless attacks from advocates for the Palestinians. The debate focuses entirely on Israel’s perceived imperfections. Instead, pro-Israel advocates should take an offensive posture, shifting the focus of debate onto Palestinian behavior and holding Palestinian leaders accountable for their malfeasance.
- Prof. Hillel Frisch
- Paper No. 2071
The visibility of pro-Palestinian protesters during the recent Israel-Hamas conflict, especially in the US, gave the impression that the delegitimization of Israel has reached new heights. An analysis of Google Trends indicates otherwise.
- Prof. Efrat Aviv
- Paper No. 2070
Bilateral relations between Turkey and Israel have existed on various levels for many years. Today, relations between the states hinge primarily on trade, as mutual distrust prevents any meaningful progress despite periodic attempts at an easing of tensions. But the Guardian of the Walls operation proved once again that anti-Israeli sentiments exist not only in Turkey’s Nationalist/Islamist/Leftist circles but in Kemalist/secularist circles as well. The extent of anti-Israelism in Ankara is so extreme as to be difficult if not impossible to bridge. Israel should expect no change in this sentiment, not even during the first stages of a post-Erdoğan era.
- Yaakov Lappin
- Paper No. 2069
Now that the truce has taken hold in Gaza, efforts must be made by the international community as well as by Israel to ensure that Hamas does not once again exploit the flow of humanitarian aid and reconstruction supplies into Gaza to rebuild its terror infrastructure.
- Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen
- Paper No. 2068
Surrendering to Hamas threats and canceling the flag parade in Jerusalem constitutes a grave violation of Israeli sovereignty that will lead to no less serious acts of extortion on the political and security levels.