Last week, the Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida visited the Persian Gulf, meeting with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. During the trip, he concluded deals for cooperation in technology, green energy, mining, and the exporting of natural gas—alongside discussions of security and diplomatic cooperation. Gedaliah Afterman and Yossi Mann suggest some further steps for Tokyo to take, which include taking advantage of the region’s demand for video games:

Despite their leading positions in the global market, Japanese gaming companies have been noticeably absent from the Middle East. While ultimately this is a matter for the companies themselves, Tokyo could encourage them with a policy framework and other initiatives.

For instance, it could organize a series of public events around the Gulf with various gaming companies. Tokyo could also seek to include gaming in future cooperation agreements in the region. In adapting leading games for the Middle Eastern market, Japanese companies may want to cooperate with Israeli technology developers active in artificial intelligence and natural-language processing.

By building on the new regional dynamic created by the Abraham Accords that normalized relations between Israel on one side and the UAE and several other Muslim states on the other, Japan can position itself as a significant player in shaping the future.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.