Prime Minister @AliFalihAlzaidy received Robert Malley, Honorary President of the @CrisisGroup (ICG) and Director of its Middle East Program, accompanied by a delegation that included the Deputy Program Director and the Director of the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Project. The Prime Minister affirmed that the significant challenges facing countries across the region require mobilizing efforts and intensifying joint action to develop solutions that help resolve economic and development crises and achieve stability. He noted that the repercussions of these challenges have extended to the global economy as a whole and adversely affected supply chains. The Prime Minister called on the International Crisis Group to leverage its expertise and capabilities and present its insights and plans to help address existing crises and assist decision-makers and international stakeholders. He stressed the importance of creating more opportunities for dialogue and expanding its scope to identify common ground among the parties concerned, noting that Iraq has made and continues to make significant efforts in this direction. The meeting also addressed the various issues and crises facing the region and explored possible solutions amid the instability and conflicts affecting the Middle East. For his part, Mr. Malley expressed the International Crisis Group’s readiness to leverage its capabilities and expertise to support the Iraqi government’s efforts and initiatives aimed at resolving crises, strengthening regional stability, and bridging differences in perspectives.

Netanyahu supporters seem to be taking advantage of @Brett_McGurk’s book and interviews to claim vindication for Netanyahu’s conduct of the war in Gaza. But while Brett’s front-row account is valuable, that doesn’t mean it is definitive or its perspectives widely shared—including among former members of the Biden administration. I would say most of my former colleagues think that President Biden should have put more pressure on Israel to conduct the war differently and end it sooner, and few think that the biggest mistake Biden made was to show daylight with Israel. And even Brett’s account makes clear that hostages were not the top priority for Netanyahu and that when U.S. pressure actually was applied—as after the World Central Kitchen strike—it worked. Brett tells the story of the Biden phone call after that tragedy, but not the story of how Biden called Netanyahu on July 4, 2024 to press him to conclude the hostage deal after Hamas had finally accepted the basic framework, dropping its demand that Israel commit to a permanent ceasefire before any hostages were released. Netanyahu instead added so many of his own conditions—against the advice of his own security chiefs—that the deal became impossible for another six months, during which nearly 9,000 more Palestinians were killed and more Israeli hostages died, including the six that Hamas executed in August. The Israeli changes included a demand that Israel retain forces along Gaza’s entire border with Egypt, which the IDF had seized only after the original proposal, and a new enforcement mechanism to screen Gazans who were returning home to the north which would have required Israeli troops to remain in central Gaza. Both of those new conditions were dropped in the deal ultimately concluded in January 2025. Nothing in the book or elsewhere changes the reality that October 7 happened on Netanyahu’s watch; that he prioritized “total victory” and the maintenance of his coalition over a hostage deal or an end of the war; that his conduct of the war and management of its humanitarian consequences catastrophic; that it has left Israel more isolated and insecure; and that it has deeply damaged, perhaps irreparably, Israel’s relationship with the United States—which should have done more to change Israel’s conduct rather than enable it. There was never an easy way forward in Gaza, but no version of the story vindicates Netanyahu.

🚨🇺🇸🇮🇷President Trump claimed Thursday the U.S. will not attack Iran ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections 🚨🇺🇸🇮🇷Why it matters: Trump had been considering for several days resuming the strike against Iran ahead of the midterms 🚨🇺🇸🇮🇷My report on @axios👇 axios.com/2026/10/08/trump-i…

🎙Comment l’histoire du conflit israélo-palestinien éclaire-t-elle la situation actuelle ? Quelles leçons peut-on tirer des précédentes tentatives de règlement du conflit ? La solution à deux États est-elle la seule option réaliste ? Je reçois @Rob_Malley, enseignant à l’université de Yale et ancien conseiller des présidents Bill Clinton et Barack Obama sur le Proche-Orient⤵️ youtu.be/n_QgEEs-xCg

Over the past week at UNGA I've been speaking to Iranian, GCC and Western officials. The upside is that Tehran and Washington have been talking. The downside is that they've largely talking past each other. 1/