Uploaded October 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Foreign Affairs invites you to listen to its podcast, the Foreign Affairs Interview. This episode with Suzanne Maloney and Marc Lynch was originally published on October 19, 2023.
Two weeks ago, there was reason to think that the Middle East was becoming more stable than it had been for years. Washington was pushing for normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia as one piece of a broader attempt to reduce the U.S. role in the region and focus on other priorities. Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7 shattered those hopes.
But there had long been signs that all was not well—that key assumptions underlying U.S. strategy were on shaky ground. In the months before the attacks, Suzanne Maloney and Marc Lynch saw the lights flashing red. Maloney is vice president of the Brookings Institution and director of its Foreign Policy program. Lynch is a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University. As they watched the region over the past several months, both worried that another crisis was coming.
Sources:
“An Invasion of Gaza Would Be a Disaster for Israel” by Marc Lynch
foreignaffairs.com/middle-east/invasion-gaza-would-be-disaster-israel
“Israel’s One-State Reality” by Michael Barnett, Nathan Brown, Marc Lynch, and Shibley Telhami
foreignaffairs.com/middle-east/israel-palestine-one-state-solution
“The Arab Uprisings Never Ended” by Marc Lynch
foreignaffairs.com/articles/middle-east/2020-12-08/arab-uprisings-never-ended
“The New Arab Order” by Marc Lynch
foreignaffairs.com/articles/middle-east/2018-08-14/new-arab-order
“The End of America’s Exit Strategy in the Middle East” by Suzanne Maloney
foreignaffairs.com/middle-east/israel-hamas-end-americas-exit-strategy-suzanne-maloney
“After the Iran Deal” by Suzanne Maloney
foreignaffairs.com/middle-east/iran-nuclear-deal-plan-b-contain-islamic-republic
Foreign Affairs invites you to listen to its podcast, the Foreign Affairs Interview. This episode with Suzanne Maloney and Marc Lynch was originally published on October 19, 2023.
Two weeks ago, there was reason to think that the Middle East was becoming more stable than it had been for years. Washington was pushing for normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia as one piece of a broader attempt to reduce the U.S. role in the region and focus on other priorities. Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7 shattered those hopes.
But there had long been signs that all was not well—that key assumptions underlying U.S. strategy were on shaky ground. In the months before the attacks, Suzanne Maloney and Marc Lynch saw the lights flashing red. Maloney is vice president of the Brookings Institution and director of its Foreign Policy program. Lynch is a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University. As they watched the region over the past several months, both worried that another crisis was coming.
Sources:
“An Invasion of Gaza Would Be a Disaster for Israel” by Marc Lynch
foreignaffairs.com/middle-east/invasion-gaza-would-be-disaster-israel
“Israel’s One-State Reality” by Michael Barnett, Nathan Brown, Marc Lynch, and Shibley Telhami
foreignaffairs.com/middle-east/israel-palestine-one-state-solution
“The Arab Uprisings Never Ended” by Marc Lynch
foreignaffairs.com/articles/middle-east/2020-12-08/arab-uprisings-never-ended
“The New Arab Order” by Marc Lynch
foreignaffairs.com/articles/middle-east/2018-08-14/new-arab-order
“The End of America’s Exit Strategy in the Middle East” by Suzanne Maloney
foreignaffairs.com/middle-east/israel-hamas-end-americas-exit-strategy-suzanne-maloney
“After the Iran Deal” by Suzanne Maloney
foreignaffairs.com/middle-east/iran-nuclear-deal-plan-b-contain-islamic-republic
