Writing under the pseudonym Luqman el-Masry, an Egyptian analyst considers some of his country’s political pathologies, especially with regard to the Jewish state:

Why do we [Egyptians] view Palestinians as friends and Israelis as foes? Why do we have a strategic partnership with the U.S. though the average Egyptian believes, as do most Arabs, that the U.S. is a vile state that conspires with Israel against them? We have a peace treaty with Israel, but so much as to contemplate visiting that country is considered an act of treason.

Conspiracy theories are rife across the Arab world, . . . which enforce the dual notion that the West and Israel are perpetually conspiring against Arabs and that, owing to the West’s perceived support for Israel, there’s not much that can be done about it.

This [fatalism] does Egyptians a great disservice. . . . Consider, for example, the widespread belief among Egyptians in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Instead of working to establish a democratic, healthy community, Egyptians content themselves with the belief that they are hapless victims of a group of sinister [Jews] who held secret meetings to decide their future along with that of the entire world. Why try to shape our country’s future ourselves?

El-Masry hopes that things might change as Egyptians grow increasingly cynical about the failed pan-Arab vision that for so long dominated the country’s politics, and that they will eventually come to appreciate their northern neighbor and ally.

Analyzing the recent direct Iranian attack on Israel, and Israel’s security situation more generally, Michael Oren looks to the 2015 agreement to restrain Iran’s nuclear program. That, and President Biden’s efforts to resurrect the deal after Donald Trump left it, are in his view the source of the current crisis:

Of the original motivations for the deal—blocking Iran’s path to the bomb and transforming Iran into a peaceful nation—neither remained. All Biden was left with was the ability to kick the can down the road and to uphold Barack Obama’s singular foreign-policy achievement.

In order to achieve that result, the administration has repeatedly refused to punish Iran for its malign actions:

Historians will survey this inexplicable record and wonder how the United States not only allowed Iran repeatedly to assault its citizens, soldiers, and allies but consistently rewarded it for doing so. They may well conclude that in a desperate effort to avoid getting dragged into a regional Middle Eastern war, the U.S. might well have precipitated one.

While America’s friends in the Middle East, especially Israel, have every reason to feel grateful for the vital assistance they received in intercepting Iran’s missile and drone onslaught, they might also ask what the U.S. can now do differently to deter Iran from further aggression. . . . Tehran will see this weekend’s direct attack on Israel as a victory—their own—for their ability to continue threatening Israel and destabilizing the Middle East with impunity.

Israel, of course, must respond differently. Our target cannot simply be the Iranian proxies that surround our country and that have waged war on us since October 7, but, as the Saudis call it, “the head of the snake.”