Institute of Advanced Studies

Strategic Challenges for Israel in the Middle East

Strategic relations in the Middle East are currently undergoing rapid change.   

The changes offer both opportunity and cause for concern to Israel.  Centrally, a new regional cold war is taking shape - pitting an Iranian-led alliance against a pro-western alliance which includes Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel.  The pro-Iranian alliance has made the destruction of Israel a central goal, and is supporting insurgent movements among the Palestinians and further afield as part of this objective.  The Second Lebanon War and the recent Gaza war must be seen in this perspective.  At the same time, the new regional cold war sees Israel aligned on the same side as major Arab states in a regional struggle for the first time. 

This lecture will explore the emergence of this new strategic situation, its key components and its meaning for hopes for peace in the Middle East.

Biographical details

Currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Global Research in International Affairs, at the Inter-Disciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel, Dr. Jonathan Spyer is a former official of the Israel Government Press Office, and has served as a Special Adviser on international affairs to Israeli cabinet ministers. His specialization is in the field of Israeli foreign policy, the Arab-Israel conflict, and the political history of Israel. He also lectures on the new anti-Semitism in Europe and the Middle East, Islamist ideologies and movements and political trends in the modern Middle East.

He received his Ph.D. in International Relations from the London School of Economics, and his MSc. in Modern Politics of the Middle East at the School of Oriental and African Studies. Born in Britain, he has lived in Israel for the past 13 years. Dr. Spyer's analysis of Israeli and broader regional events and processes has been published in major journals in Israel and abroad including the Guardian, Ha'aretz, the Jerusalem Post and the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA). He has many book chapters on Middle East issues and is the co-author of The Rise of Nationalism: The Arab World, Turkey and Iran, (Mason Crest Publishers, 2007) and The Transforming Fire: Tracing the Israel-Islamist Conflict (Continuum, 2010 - forthcoming). He acts as a consultant to a wide variety of bodies in the academic, non-governmental, media and public affairs fields.

This event is sponsored by Centre for Muslim States and Societies, UWA in cooperation with the Australia / Israel and Jewish Affairs Council.