The US diplomatic strategy on Israel and Gaza is not workingDaniel Levy - Daniel Levy | The Guardian | August 27^th 2024

The Biden administration remains in an intense phase of Middle East diplomatic activity working to avoid a regional war while optimistically spinning the prospects for a Gaza breakthrough deal. Following the latest round of provocative Israeli extrajudicial killings in Tehran and Beirut and the intensified exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah over the weekend, the region appeared to lurch further in the direction of all-out war. Preventing that is a worthy cause in itself.

In the U.K. and France, There Was a Gaza Vote. And in the U.S.?Daniel Levy - Daniel Levy & Matt Duss | The New Republic | July 17^th 2024

This year is being touted as an unprecedented year of elections with consequences across the globe. Hundreds of millions have voted from India to Indonesia to Mexico. This past month it was the turn of two of America’s most significant European allies, the U.K. and France, the two Western states that sit alongside the United States as permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. In November, of course, it is America’s turn. 

It’s Time to Sideline Israel from International SportsDaniel Levy - Daniel Levy & Tony Karon | The Nation | July 16^th 2024

FIFA, global soccer’s governing body, is facing growing calls to ban Israel’s teams from international competitions. The Palestinian Football Association has formally demanded action in response to the dire humanitarian situation created by Israel’s nine-month assault on Gaza, the ongoing disruption of Palestinian soccer imposed by Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory, and the fact that teams from Israel’s illegal West Bank settlements play in its domestic leagues in violation of FIFA rules. The international body has long evaded efforts within its council...

To bandy about the serious accusation of anti-Semitism in unserious ways is dangerousDaniel Levy - Daniel Levy | Irish Times | May 16^th 2024

Rarely these days is there a big event in which Israel participates without tension crackling just below (and frequently above) the surface given the horrors Israel is imposing on the Palestinian civilian population of Gaza. Despite the European Broadcasting Union going to extraordinary and authoritarian lengths, Eurovision was not normal, and this summer’s Paris Olympics are unlikely to pass quietly.

A Cheat Sheet to the Middle East’s Web of Friends and EnemiesDaniel Levy - Daniel Levy | The New York Times | April 20^th 2024

At the U.N. General Assembly in September, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, brandished a map titled “The New Middle East” and asserted that Israel’s ties with Arab states were helping to create a corridor of peace from India through the Persian Gulf, via Israel, to Europe. A week later, the U.S. national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, declared, “The Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades.” A lot has changed in six months. The Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands — ignored in those expressions of optimism &m...

After the carnageDaniel Levy - Daniel Levy & Tony Karon | The Nation | April 11^th 2024

Amid the carnage of Israel’s war on Gaza, litigating the parameters of a post-apartheid future may seem frivolous. Still, the events of the past months have rekindled interest in a political solution, even among leaders who had largely ignored the ever-deteriorating circumstances of Palestinian life prior to October 7. Whether in the framing of Israel’s allies in the West who center Israeli-Jewish security or in the recognition by the rest that it is the prevailing geography of power between the river and the sea that drives Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation, there has b...

Team Biden Needs a Reset on IsraelDaniel Levy - Daniel Levy | The New York Times | January 17^th 2024

Back in 2001, in a visit to the illegal West Bank settlement of Ofra, an out-of-office Benjamin Netanyahu, apparently unaware he was being recorded, boasted to his hosts that “America is a thing you can move very easily — move it in the right direction.” At the time, Mr. Netanyahu was talking about his experience with the Clinton White House; he had undermined Washington-led peace efforts during his first stint as Israel’s prime minister. But more than 20 years later, Mr. Netanyahu’s assessment feels uncomfortably familiar.