Amb. Dennis Ross on Israel-Hamas Conflict: Unpacking the Crisis

The architect of the Oslo accords, Ambassador Dennis Ross, who worked in five U.S. presidential administrations trying to broker peace between Israelis and Palestinians, joined us on the heels of the deaths in Gaza, at the hands of the Israelis, of seven humanitarian workers. Ambassador Ross spoke of the present conflict as the worst he has witnessed and he discussed the trauma of both the Palestinian and Israeli sides as well as the differences in the Israel, West Bank and Gaza governments, the security misreadings by the Israeli government, the diversions of humanitarian aid by Hamas and the legacy of October 7th and the hostages taken by Hamas. Ambassador Ross spoke, too, of Israel's fraught political stability and the likely future for Prime Minister Netanyahu and his coalition. He also provided an assessment of Hamas militarily and gauged the effect on the region of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the role of Turkey's Erdogan and Egypt under El-Sisi. He spoke, too, of the perniciousness of Hamas as well as condemning the Israeli occupation and the incorrect use of the word genocide to condemn Israel. We had the opportunity as well to speak with the Ambassador about Iran's role in the region and the prospects of a single versus a two states solution and what to expect after the war is over. A wide-ranging, incisive discussion replete with first-rate insights.