Following a crisis within Netanyahu’s coalition, members of the Knesset approved the dissolution of the Israeli parliament in a preliminary reading. As the country awaits a final decision on whether elections will be held in September or October, Israel finds itself at a crossroads, amid deep internal social tensions, ongoing and perpetual conflicts and an increasingly challenging regional and international environment. At the same time, the future of Gaza – especially after Netanyahu's order to expand to 70% the Israeli control of the Strip –, increasing violence in the West Bank and, more broadly, relations with the Palestinians continue to occupy a paradoxical place in the political debate: impossible to ignore, yet often avoided or framed only through the language of security. Will Netanyahu secure another mandate, or are we witnessing a turning point for the country?

To answer these questions, in this episode of MED Insights, Nicola Missaglia, Curator of the MED Dialogues, speaks with Dahlia Scheindlin, political analyst and columnist for Haaretz, Gil Murciano, CEO of MITVIM, and Sara Isabella Leykin, Junior Research Fellow at ISPI.

As the war between Iran and the United States appears to be once again on the brink of a new phase of military confrontation, one region remains particularly vulnerable: the Gulf. The countries of the GCC have found themselves on the frontline of a war they neither chose nor wanted – a conflict that is impacting not only their economies, but also the region’s security architecture. How has the war affected the Gulf countries? And how is it transforming their security paradigm and strategic outlook, both within the region and beyond?

To explore these questions, in this episode of MED Insights, Nicola Missaglia, Curator of the MED Dialogues and Head of Communications and Publishing at ISPI, speaks with Majed Al Ansari, Advisor to the Prime Minister and Official Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, as well as President of the Center for International Policy Research (CIPR).

Almost 50 days after the outbreak of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, a 10-day ceasefire has been brokered by the United States. As hopes grow that this pause could pave the way for a lasting end to the fighting, Lebanon remains at a crossroads.

Beyond the war, the country appears unable to break free from its overlapping internal and external crises. The government in Beirut, in power for over a year, has sought to address these challenges, but the obstacles remain immense: from Hezbollah’s unresolved role within the state to continued interference by external actors, an enduring economic collapse, and a population exhausted by decades of instability.

Is Lebanon capable of escaping what increasingly appears to be a permanent state of crisis?

To explore these questions, in this episode of MED Insights, Nicola Missaglia – Curator of the MED Dialogues and Head of Communications and Publishing at ISPI – speaks with Lina Khatib, Associate Fellow at the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatam House and also Visiting Scholar at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Middle East Initiative, Aurélie Daher, Assistant Professor at Paris Dauphine University, and Luigi Toninelli, Junior Research Fellow at ISPI.