Middle East Forum

Israel can destroy a missile factory in Isfahan, but not a bank in Moscow or a chip broker in Shenzhen. @amineayoubx on the Russian banking channels and Chinese oil money and parts that could let Iran rebuild what Israel destroyed.

Saudi airpower has not reined in the Houthis in 12 years. @mrubin1971 on why a $24 billion sale of 48 F-35s, years from delivery, is no answer to Mokha and the Bab el-Mandeb, and what the 1981 AWACS precedent actually shows.

The Houthis claimed two Saudi air bases wrecked and Yanbu ablaze. MEF checked a week of claims against 32,102 satellite fire detections and optical frames: damaged houses and one burned fuel tank at Riyadh's airport, 940 km from Saada.

Two Hanish islands, Perim, Zuqar and the port of Mocha: the Houthis now hold the narrowest point of Bab el-Mandeb. @jonathan_spyer reads Yemeni documents naming the Iranian, Iraqi and Lebanese personnel behind their drone, missile and intelligence units.

"It's just six freaks" amongst British Muslims: Baroness Warsi, reported front-runner for Labour's anti-Muslim hostility post, waves off Islamist ideology. Hannah Baldock notes 2 of the 4 July 7 bombers came through the Tablighi circles Warsi grew up around in Dewsbury.

A BlueBird facility in Benslimane makes SpyX loitering munitions; Barak MX now guards Sidi Yahya. @amineayoubx reads the Sept 16 Israel-Morocco embassy upgrade as the capstone of co-production, not protocol. Algeria outspends Morocco 24.5b to 7.87b, but its tech edge narrows.

The Middle East Forum launches MEF Translations: Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Kurdish, French, German and Spanish editions, 307 articles at launch, each new piece added within a day. "Seven languages is where we start," says @greggroman.

Turkey guaranteed its Jews and Christians a pluralist future at Lausanne in 1923. What remains is about 15,000 Jews and 300,000 Christians, clergy under state control, seized property and coded ID cards. Craig Considine calls it neo-dhimmitude.

Iran-backed Iraqi militias are business conglomerates as much as armed groups, and telecom is the prize. Michael Rubin traces the ministries, licenses and providers involved, and proposes one test for Washington: open books or no U.S. project.

Eritrea's foreign minister warns of a UAE, Israeli and Ethiopian convergence in the Horn of Africa. Blen M. Diriba shows the argument is the 1970s Eritrean pitch to Arab capitals, revived for a region that no longer works that way.

Michigan State's Muslim Studies Program marked 20 years by honoring the professor who told the room that 9/11 had nothing to do with Islam, and that al-Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah are products of US and Israeli policy. @greggroman on what the program teaches.

A CRA audit tied the Muslim Association of Canada to the Muslim Brotherhood. A 2025 Vote Palestine drive won endorsements across 4 parties. Craig Considine and Sydney Rodman in MEF Online: Canada is the preview, and Jewish Americans are the test.

Hamas has asked the ICJ and UN bodies to use the film Naza against Israel. @giuliomeotti asks Yossi Klein Halevi, who protested his own government for 3 years, what that means: no name, no verifiable incident, and a 25 minute Venice ovation he calls groupthink.

Mokha fell last week. With Perim Island the Houthis now hold the Bab el Mandeb gateway, their biggest gain since Sanaa. @mrubin1971 in MEF Online: stop the whack-a-mole strikes, recognize Somaliland and South Arabia, and Iran stops inheriting 1,750 miles of coastline.

Israel votes on 27 October. 308 seat projections this year, in Hebrew, across a dozen outlets. As of today they are in one place. MEF has opened israelvote.meforum.org: every 2026 poll, the source on each row, a 14 day average across 16 houses. Yashar 24, Likud 23, Together 12.

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@AshleyJSPerry Full episode — September 16, 2026 | Israel Insider with Ashley Perry: youtu.be/BTjmPeTNtpg

Saudi Arabia called on Turkey and Pakistan under the Mecca defense pact. It got communiqués. On Israel Insider, @ashleyjsperry on why "there's really only one dependable partner in the region." Full episode in reply ⬇️

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@MauriceHirsch4 Full episode — Oslo's Deadly Legacy: Rethinking the Palestinian Authority, with Maurice Hirsch and host Lauri Regan: youtu.be/041wKSodjzM

On the latest MEF Podcast, @MauriceHirsch4 on the Palestinian Authority: every month it pays out millions in salaries to terrorists, and every time anyone moves to stop the money, someone warns the PA will collapse. His answer: seize the ATMs. Let it collapse. Full episode in

Ismail Haniyeh's son spoke at a state-backed religious-school alumni congress in Trabzon on 5 Sept: education minister in the room, Erdogan on video, the hall chanting greetings to Hamas. @abdbozkurt on how Hamas got access to 1.2M pupils and 10M alumni in all 81 provinces.