It was a pleasure to host progressive foreign policy guru Matt Duss for a conversation that explored the pathologies of US Middle East policy under presidents of both political parties and considered what Democrats’ foreign policy on Israel-Palestine should be going forward. Matt gained notoriety as foreign policy advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders and is currently Vice President of Center for International Policy.
The topics Matt and I covered included:
Trump’s Iran war quagmire: President Trump is desperate to find a “plausible victory narrative” to end “one of the stupidest wars” the US has fought, while Israeli PM Netanyahu (who is determined to stay in power and out of jail) is doing all he can to torpedo any agreement that fails to meet his requirements.
Abraham Accords and the war against Iran: Yesterday, Trump resurfaced the Abraham Accords with a delusional edict deeming it “mandatory” for Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, Türkiye, Egypt, and Jordan to join the Accords and normalize relations with Israel as part of a deal to end the Iran war.
Matt made the case that the Accords enabled the disastrous war against Iran by creating a “united front and a defense network against potential Iranian attack” that gave Netanyahu the confidence to launch war, believing that Israel would be able to absorb Iranian retaliation with help from the US and the Arab Gulf states.
Abraham Accords as a gambit to marginalize the Palestinian issue: Despite the fig leaf of preventing (officially declared) Israeli annexation of the West Bank, the Accords buttressed Netanyahu’s claim Israel could normalize regional relations without ending the Occupation. This produced an explosion that many of us warned about, in the form of Hamas’ ghastly October 7th attack.
The Biden Admin’s embrace of the Abraham Accords: Matt offered his analysis of this poor decision: “Joe Biden is very bad at foreign policy” and Biden’s team was overly cautious politically — which led not only to poor choices on Israel-Palestine, but also missing the opportunity to revive the JCPOA.
Reimagining Democratic foreign policy on Israel-Palestine: Matt argued for a foreign policy that advances US security and prosperity while upholding values like human rights and dignity. Policy on Israel-Palestine should be consistent with these values, rather than carving out an Israel exception. Specifically, Matt argued that the US should not provide weapons to Israel for use in enacting apartheid and genocide, and should sanction leaders responsible for such policies.
Senator Chris Van Hollen’s NYT op-ed: The piece, which calls for withdrawing aid and conditioning arms sales to Israel, provides further indication of movement on Israel-Palestine within the Democratic party.
Matt and I discussed Van Hollen’s call for “a last-gasp effort to salvage a two-state solution” and against “re-enlist[ing] the senior Democratic decision makers who whitewashed the truth during the Biden administration and refuse to acknowledge their complicity.”
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I hope you’ll find the conversation with Matt Duss valuable and thought-provoking! As always, I’m interested in your comments.
Coming Up This Week!
Thursday, May 28, at 12pm Eastern:
I’ll be honored to speak with Jaser Abu Mousa, a Palestinian political analyst and Yale Peace Fellow who survived the genocide in Gaza and is now a Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute. Check him out here on Substack! He’s putting out a Gaza Biweekly that’s a must-read to understand what’s happening in the Strip (especially now that the Iran war has pushed Gaza from the headlines). Here’s the latest installment, entitled “Moving On Without Peace.” He also published this heart-wrenching piece about his son Hmaid on what should have been Hmaid’s 21st birthday.
Resources for Diving Deeper
If my conversation with Matt Duss left you wanting more, here are some excellent resources:
Matt’s recent co-authored Foreign Policy piece “How the Abraham Accords Fueled a New Era of Conflict”
ICYMI, my conversation yesterday with Wajahat Ali and Omar Baddar on THE LEFT HOOK with Wajahat Ali touched on some of the same themes that Matt and I focused on today:
Great episode of The Debrief featuring Rob Malley (former Biden envoy on Iran who also held senior Middle East policy roles in the Clinton and Obama admins), in which we discuss Malley’s new book and specifically his claim that the two-state solution is “dead and maybe was never that alive to begin with”:
Two Debrief episodes featuring Rula Hardal and May Pundak, the Palestinian and Israeli co-directors of A Land for All — the movement for a confederation in Israel-Palestine that Matt Duss referred to as an alternative to a conventional two-state solution:
That’s it for now, folks! Big thanks for your support!
Hope to see many of you on Thursday.
Warmly,
Debra
