ah@radioislam.co.za<\/a>
\n<\/u>2 May 2025 | 14:40 CAT
\n3 min read<\/p>\nThe Middle East is going through major political and social shifts, with Israel\u2019s hardline stance on Gaza, youth movements shaping U.S. policy and Arab countries reconsidering ties with Israel amid growing international legal scrutiny.<\/p>\n
Speaking on our Middle East report, Dr James M. Dorsey, award-winning scholar and journalist, unpacked recent developments in the region, beginning with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s firm position on the Gaza blockade. This comes despite growing international calls for increased humanitarian aid.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the last ten to two weeks, U.S. President Donald Trump said that food and medicine needed to be allowed to enter the Gaza Strip, that he was pressuring Netanyahu to do so,\u201d said Dorsey. He noted that this was followed by the final day of hearings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which is considering whether Israel is legally obligated to work with UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn response to all of that, Netanyahu has hardened his position. He has reiterated that there would not be a withdrawal from Gaza. He has reiterated or actually for the first time clearly said that military rule of Gaza was not ruled out. That was something he would consider,\u201d Dorsey explained.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu has also rejected the idea of Hamas or the internationally recognised Palestinian Authority playing any role in post-war governance in Gaza. Whether or not Trump will act on his words remains uncertain, as he has shifted focus to domestic celebrations and other foreign policy matters. \u201cHe has really pushed Gaza to the side-lines in the last week or two. So we are going to have to see whether his trip in May to Saudi Arabia may make a difference,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Dorsey also addressed the role of far-right Zionist youth movements like Betar, which has historical ties to Netanyahu\u2019s political background, and its influence on U.S. policy responses to pro-Palestinian protests. \u201cBetar today, particularly its U.S. branch, together with the other two U.S. organisations, has been giving thousands of names of students and others, but primarily students, who allegedly are anti-Semites because they have participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations and manifestations or have been tweeting or otherwise publishing in favour of the Palestinians,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Dorsey said that the U.S. administration has admitted to receiving these names and that some detained individuals appeared on these lists. \u201cMohsen Mahdawi, who was in the last few days released on bail, but also Mahmud Khalil and Rumseya Ozturk, the Turkish Tufts University PhD graduate, they were all on Betar’s list,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Dorsey noted there is a significant influence in this whole crackdown on academia, if you wish.<\/p>\n
Turning to broader regional dynamics, Dorsey spoke about efforts to gain Arab recognition of Israel, with Algeria now seen as a potential target. \u201cAlgeria has long said that it would recognise Israel if Israel establishes a Palestinian state. In 1999, at the funeral of Moroccan King Hassan the Second, the then Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika had a brief discussion with the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, in which Bouteflika very clearly said that he would support Barak\u2019s peace plan,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He noted that Algeria is in a strategic bind, especially since its rival Morocco gained an edge by recognising Israel and securing support from the Trump administration. Morocco received U.S. recognition of its claim to Western Sahara, while Algeria supports the Sahrawi independence movement. \u201cMuch like India and to a degree also Vietnam, former client military clients of the Soviet Union and of Russia are switching their mainstay of weaponry primarily to the United States. That is something that Algeria also wants to do,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
He highlighted that Algeria signed a military cooperation agreement with the U.S. in January and is now looking to strengthen ties. \u201cRecognition of Israel, given Algeria\u2019s greater interests, is starting to become more negotiable, if you wish,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
On legal matters, Dorsey pointed out that Israel is not the only Middle Eastern country facing genocide charges at the ICJ. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is also facing accusations, this time from Sudan, for allegedly supporting armed groups in that country. \u201cThere is a bit of irony here, of course. Not only in the fact that the UAE is the only other Middle Eastern country being charged with genocide in the International Court of Justice. The UAE is also, for all practical matters, Israel\u2019s closest friend in the Arab world today, eighteen months into the Gaza war,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Dorsey explained that the Sudanese case accuses the UAE of supporting the Rapid Support Forces, a rebel group in Sudan. However, the UAE case has not yet been accepted by the court. \u201cThe UAE has a greater chance of the court kicking the case out on technical legal grounds. There are limitations that the UAE imposed on its signature of the Rome Statute, which is what established the International Court of Justice. Those restrictions may mean that it would never be brought in front of the court,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven so, in my mind, it is a stain on the UAE\u2019s reputation that it even was a case of genocide against it was brought to the court,\u201d said Dorsey.<\/p>\n
With shifting alliances, strategic positioning, and mounting legal pressure, the politics of the Middle East continue to evolve in complex and unpredictable ways.<\/p>\n
LISTEN<\/strong> to the full interview with Ml Junaid Kharsany and Dr James M. Dorsey here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nABOUT THE AUTHOR
\n<\/strong>Dr. James M. Dorsey is an award-winning journalist, scholar, and Senior Fellow at the National University of Singapore\u2019s Middle East Institute. He is the author of \u2018The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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Azra Hoosen | ah@radioislam.co.za 2 May 2025 | 14:40 CAT 3 min read The Middle East is going through major political and social shifts, with Israel\u2019s hardline stance on Gaza, youth movements shaping U.S. policy and Arab countries reconsidering ties with Israel amid growing international legal scrutiny. Speaking on our Middle East report, Dr James […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":97385,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[132],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion-and-analysis"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Middle-East-Report-23.png?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-pkI","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-24 08:34:58","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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