Stay ConnectedThe Middle East never stops moving. Neither does the FDD Morning Brief.
Three mornings a week, FDD Executive Director Jonathan Schanzer cuts through the noise with the experts who have spent their careers studying, shaping, and living the region’s most consequential moments. All before your morning coffee gets cold.
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HEADLINE 1: Anyone heard of Binance? It's the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange — and it may well have facilitated $1 billion in transactions for Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist organizations — that’s billion with a “b.”
HEADLINE 2: The Palestinian economy is on the brink of collapse.
HEADLINE 3: The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or “GHF,” is wrapping up its operations in Gaza.
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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL).
Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief
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Featured FDD Pieces:
"Iran Drops the Façade of Tolerance Toward Persian Jews" - Janatan Sayeh, National Review
"Reconstructing Gaza: The devil is in the detail" - Ben Cohen, JNS
"Oy, There's Too Much News" - The Commentary Magazine Podcast feat. Jonathan Schanzer
FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with former UK Ambassador to Yemen and current FDD Senior Fellow Edmund Fitton-Brown.
Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief
WHAT CAN ISRAEL EXPECT FROM ITS NEIGHBORS?
HEADLINE 1: The IDF carried out strikes against several Hezbollah weapons storage facilities in south Lebanon.
HEADLINE 2: Israeli prosecutors charged seven men suspected of smuggling arms from Syria into Israel.
HEADLINE 3: Israeli prosecutors charged seven men suspected of smuggling arms from Syria into Israel.
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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with former Israeli acting National Security Advisor BG (Res.) Prof. Jacob Nagel.
Learn more at: fdd.org/fddmorningbrief
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Featured FDD Pieces:
"New York, New York, it’s a socialist town" - Clifford D. May, The Washington Times
"Trump’s Gaza peace plan is doomed — unless he shuts down terror-boosting UNRWA" - Enia Krivine and Richard Goldberg, New York Post
"Is Iran Unraveling?" - Mark Dubowitz, The Iran Breakdown
HEADLINE 1: The U.N. Security Council blessed Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza.
HEADLINE 2: Syria opened its first trial over the mass killings of Alawite minorities last spring.
HEADLINE 3: Yee Haw!The State ofTexas designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.
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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Eran Lahav, the head of the Middle East Department at the David Institute for Policy & Research of IDSF.
Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief
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Featured FDD Pieces:
"Maritime Protection of Taiwan’s Energy Vulnerability" - FDD Memo
"US Military Dominance Is the Backbone of Prosperity" - Saeed Ghasseminejad, The National Interest
"What Washington Should Demand From Riyadh Before Providing the F-35" - Bradley Bowman and Justin Leopold-Cohen, Real Clear Defense
FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a Gaza native who serves as the founder and director of the Realign for Palestine project at the Atlantic Council.
Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN MBS COMES TO TOWN?
HEADLINE 1: The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on over two dozen targets that support Iran’s ballistic missile and drone production networks.
HEADLINE 2: U.S. Central Command provided an update on operational activity in Syria.
HEADLINE 3: Israeli forces dismantled a Hamas network in the West Bank.
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FDD Senior Research Analyst Natalie Ecanow, filling in for Jonathan Schanzer, provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Atlantic Council Nonresident Senior Fellow Sarah Zaaimi.
Learn more at: fdd.org/fddmorningbrief
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Featured FDD Pieces:
"Previewing the Trump-MBS Meeting" - Jonathan Schanzer, Edmund Fitton-Brown, and Bradley Bowman, FDD
"With voting in Iraq complete, government formation begins" - Bridget Toomey, FDD's Long War Journal
"The war against Christians" - Clifford D. May, The Washington Times
HEADLINE 1: French President Emmanuel Macron hosted Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
HEADLINE 2: The Houthis might be hitting pause on their attacks against Israel and Red Sea shipping.
HEADLINE 3: Iran said it dismantled a spy network linked to Israel and the United States.
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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer delivers timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with FDD Adjunct Fellow Seth Frantzman, who serves as senior Middle East correspondent and analyst at The Jerusalem Post.
Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief
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Featured FDD Pieces
"Tehran’s Crisis is Iran’s Reckoning" - Janatan Sayeh, Real Clear World
"Fifty Years of Gaslighting Israel at the U.N." - David May and Ben Cohen, National Review
"Erhurman’s election a step towards peace, but beware of Ankara’s appetite" - Sinan Ciddi and William Doran, Kathimerini
FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer delivers timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Ilan Berman, Senior Vice President of the American Foreign Policy Council.
Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief/
WHAT HISTORICAL LESSONS MUST SHAPE GAZA'S FUTURE?
HEADLINE 1: Israel is at its wit’s end with the porous Egyptian border.
HEADLINE 2: Israel and Greece wrapped up joint military exercises this week.
HEADLINE 3: Turkey held a terrorist summit in Istanbul on Wednesday.
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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer delivers timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Hebrew University Professor Netta Barak-Corren.
Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief/
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Featured FDD Pieces:
"Learning the Right Lessons From ‘A House of Dynamite’" - Bradley Bowman and David Adesnik, Real Clear Defense
"Iranians Challenge the Regime by Celebrating Cyrus the Great" - Janatan Sayeh and Behnam Ben Taleblu, FDD
"The US must not endorse Russia and China’s vision for cybersecurity" - John Yoo and Ivana Stradner, The Hill
HEADLINE 1: Oman’s foreign minister called on countries in the Gulf to engage with…wait for it… Iran.
HEADLINE 2: The U.S. sent a draft resolution to the UN Security Council calling for the implementation of an International Stabilization Force, or “ISF,” which would operate in Gaza until 2027.
HEADLINE 3: On Monday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said that Beirut has no choice but to sit down and talk with Israel.
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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer delivers timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with FDD Research Analyst Mariam Wahba, whose work focuses on Egypt and minority communities in the Middle East.
Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief/
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Featured FDD Pieces:
"Israel 2040: Benny Gantz’s Vision for Security and Cooperation" - FDD Event
"How the U.S. Can Stay Ahead of China in Space" - Jack Burnham and Sophie McDowall, The Cipher Brief
"Aoun’s Push for Talks with Israel Must Overcome Hezbollah’s Ploys" - Hussain Abdul-Hussain, This is Beirut
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