Explaining the chaotic situation in the Middle East, Eran Lerman divides the various states and militias into four main camps, all vying for power and influence: Iran and its allies; the Muslim Brotherhood and its backers (Turkey, Qatar, Hamas, and parts of Libya); the global jihadists, comprising a resurgent al-Qaeda and an Islamic State possibly in decline; and the “forces of stability,” including Saudi Arabia and most of the Gulf states, Egypt, the Kurds, and others. Lerman evaluates how this struggle came about, what it portends, and what it means for the Jewish state, which finds itself aligned with the last group:

Efforts to reduce the intensity of fighting on several fronts of the “game of camps” may alleviate some of the suffering, but the ideological divides are too deep to be bridged. In the case of Islamic State, decisive action is needed to . . . degrade it to the point that the game will be reduced to a three-way contest. In the case of the Muslim Brotherhood, unless it gains unexpected political victories or uses [affiliated Muslim] communities in the West to shift the balance of power, it would seem likely that it too is destined to decline (but remain a strategic irritant).

As recent events indicate, the crucial factor for the future of the region will thus continue to be the power struggle—both geopolitical and ideological (and in some aspects, confessional) in nature—between the forces of stability, which seek a place in the existing global order, and the Iranian challenge, which is driven by an ideological urge (dressed up in religious garb) to overthrow it.

Specifically, Iran’s object is to undermine the post-1945 dispensation, which includes the right of self-determination for the Jewish people. The wish to undo [the creation of] Israel—inexplicable in terms of Iranian raison d’état, but central to the [1979 Islamic] revolution’s raison d’être—will thus remain central to Tehran’s purposes, and those of its “camp,” as long as the present regime stays in power. Israel’s position is therefore of growing importance in this struggle, and will increasingly influence its standing in the region. Ultimately it will still be the input of the international community and, above all, the next American administration that will determine the long-range outcome in the game of camps.

While it is commendable that administrators of several universities finally called upon police to crack down on violent and disruptive anti-Israel protests, the actions they have taken may be insufficient. At Columbia, demonstrators reestablished their encampment on the main quad after it had been cleared by the police, and the university seems reluctant to use force again. The school also decided to hold classes remotely until the end of the semester. Such moves, whatever their merits, do nothing to fix the factors that allowed campuses to become hotbeds of pro-Hamas activism in the first place. The editors of National Review examine how things go to this point:

Since the 10/7 massacre, Columbia’s Jewish students have been forced to endure routine calls for their execution. It shouldn’t have taken the slaughter, rape, and brutalization of Israeli Jews to expose chants like “Globalize the intifada” and “Death to the Zionist state” as calls for violence, but the university refused to intervene on behalf of its besieged students. When an Israeli student was beaten with a stick outside Columbia’s library, it occasioned little soul-searching from faculty. Indeed, it served only as the impetus to establish an “Anti-Semitism Task Force,” which subsequently expressed “serious concerns” about the university’s commitment to enforcing its codes of conduct against anti-Semitic violators.

But little was done. Indeed, as late as last month the school served as host to speakers who praised the 10/7 attacks and even “hijacking airplanes” as “important tactics that the Palestinian resistance have engaged in.”

The school’s lackadaisical approach created a permission structure to menace and harass Jewish students, and that’s what happened. . . . Now is the time finally to do something about this kind of harassment and associated acts of trespass and disorder. Yale did the right thing when police cleared out an encampment [on Monday]. But Columbia remains a daily reminder of what happens when freaks and haters are allowed to impose their will on campus.