On September 17, 2024, thousands of pagers carried by Hezbollah terrorists began exploding across Lebanon. The following day, handheld radios exploded too.

It was the culmination of an extraordinary intelligence operation involving supply chains, shell companies, specially modified communications devices and years of preparation.

In today’s Middle East Brief, Avi Kaner tells the full story of Beepergate: why Hezbollah turned to pagers, how the devices were compromised, what happened during the two waves of explosions, and how the operation exposed the depth of Hezbollah’s security vulnerabilities.

The attacks were followed by a rapidly escalating Israeli campaign against Hezbollah’s leadership and military infrastructure, culminating days later in the killing of Hassan Nasrallah.

Beepergate demonstrated that Hezbollah’s vulnerability extended far beyond the battlefield. The very communications system intended to protect the organization from Israeli intelligence had become a weapon against it.

🎙️ Middle East Brief with Avi Kaner

Israel’s E1 plan has triggered fierce international opposition, with critics claiming it could make a future Palestinian state impossible.

But the history and geography are more complicated.

In today’s Middle East Brief, Avi Kaner explains what E1 is, why its location between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim matters, what the 2003 Geneva Initiative actually proposed, and why previous peace plans envisioned major Israeli population centers remaining part of Israel through negotiated land swaps.

A look beyond the headlines at one of the most consequential territorial debates in Israel today.

What happens when Israeli politics becomes less about who you are and more about what you believe?

In Part 2, Avi looks at what greater political integration between Jewish and Arab Israelis could mean for Israel’s October election.

Arab Israelis are roughly one-fifth of the population, yet voter turnout has historically lagged behind Jewish Israelis. Higher participation, combined with Israel’s 3.25% electoral threshold, could significantly affect the race to 61 Knesset seats.

But this isn’t simply about an “Arab vote” helping one political bloc. Every party should have to compete for every Israeli voter.

For Benjamin Netanyahu, that creates both challenges and opportunities as he faces a difficult path to 61.

The larger message is simple:

Arab Israeli votes aren’t separate from Israeli democracy. They are Israeli votes.

Could Israeli politics be evolving beyond traditional religious and ethnic lines?

Yoav Segalovitz, a Jewish Israeli, is reportedly considering joining Mansour Abbas’s Ra’am party, led by an Arab Muslim Israeli. The possibility represents something potentially much larger than one politician changing parties.

Modern Israel is approaching 80 years old. Increasingly, Arab citizens are focused on the same everyday issues that drive voters in other democracies: crime, jobs, housing, education, municipal services and economic opportunity.

A recent survey found that more than 71% of Arab Israelis identified violence and crime as the most urgent problem facing their community, compared with just 8% who chose the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza issue.

In Part 1, Avi explores whether Israel is entering a new political era where Jewish Israelis could feel comfortable supporting Arab-led parties, while Arab Muslim Israelis increasingly join and vote for mainstream Israeli parties, including the political right.

Politics based less on what you are, and more on what you believe, what you need, and the country you want Israel to become.

In Part 2: Could this evolution reshape Israel’s October election, change the path to 61 Knesset seats, and help determine Israel’s next prime minister?

هل القضية القانونية المتعلقة بمرتفعات الجولان بسيطة كما يتم تصويرها عادة؟

في هذه الحلقة من موجز الشرق الأوسط مع آفي كانر، نعود إلى جذور النزاع: من انهيار الإمبراطورية العثمانية وتقسيم المنطقة بين بريطانيا وفرنسا، إلى حرب 1948 واتفاقية الهدنة بين إسرائيل وسوريا عام 1949.

كانت تلك الاتفاقية هدنة وليست معاهدة سلام، ونصت صراحة على أن ترتيبات خط الهدنة لا تحدد التسوية الإقليمية النهائية.

ثم جاءت حرب 1967، وقرار مجلس الأمن 242 الذي دعا إلى سلام تعيش فيه دول المنطقة ضمن حدود آمنة ومعترف بها، ثم حرب 1973 واتفاق فصل القوات عام 1974.

تتناول الحلقة أيضًا الأهمية الأمنية والجغرافية للجولان، والواقع الذي نشأ هناك خلال ما يقرب من ستين عامًا، والاعتراف الأمريكي بالسيادة الإسرائيلية عام 2019.

ولا تزال الأمم المتحدة ومعظم دول العالم تعتبر الجولان أرضًا سورية محتلة، وهو الموقف الدولي السائد.

لكن آفي يجادل بأن التاريخ والقانون والأمن أكثر تعقيدًا من الادعاء بأن هناك حدود سلام نهائية ومتفقًا عليها بين سوريا وإسرائيل، وأن إسرائيل عبرتها عام 1967 وانتهى النقاش.

مرتفعات الجولان جزء من إسرائيل، وعلى إسرائيل أن تعرض حجتها للسيادة بثقة وفخر.

The conventional argument about the Golan Heights sounds simple: Israel captured Syrian territory in 1967, extended Israeli law to it in 1981, and therefore its sovereignty violates international law.

But the history is considerably more complicated.

In today's Middle East Brief, Avi Kaner goes back before Israel and Syria even existed as independent countries, examining the Ottoman era, the British and French mandates, the 1948 war, and the crucial 1949 Israel-Syria Armistice Agreement, which explicitly stated that the armistice lines had "no relation whatsoever to ultimate territorial arrangements."

The episode examines:

• How Britain and France originally drew the mandate-era boundary
• Why the 1949 Israel-Syria armistice was not a final peace settlement
• Eighteen years of Syrian hostility and attacks from the Golan
• Israel's capture of the Golan during the 1967 Six-Day War
• UN Security Council Resolution 242 and its call for "secure and recognized boundaries"
• Syria's attempt to retake the Golan during the 1973 Yom Kippur War
• Israel's extension of its law, jurisdiction, and administration to the Golan in 1981
• The prevailing international position and Israel's competing historical, security, and legal arguments
• U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan in 2019
• Nearly sixty years of Israeli communities, agriculture, businesses, tourism, and life on the Golan

The international legal dispute is real. But so is Israel's historical and security case.

The Golan Heights are part of Israel, and Israel should make its case confidently and proudly.

For nearly two decades, Gaza has endured a devastating cycle of war, destruction, reconstruction, and renewed conflict.

Can that cycle finally be broken?

In this episode of the Middle East Brief with Avi Kaner, Avi examines the newly announced roadmap associated with the Board of Peace, which envisions the disarmament of Hamas, a new Palestinian technocratic administration, international stabilization, and a long-term reconstruction effort.

If successful, this initiative could represent one of the most ambitious post-conflict reconstruction efforts in modern Middle Eastern history.

President Trump's proposed 30-year civil nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia is being viewed primarily as an energy and technology partnership. But could it also be laying the foundation for a much broader geopolitical realignment?

In this episode, Avi Kaner examines how major Middle East agreements often include quiet understandings that are not immediately visible. He explores Saudi Arabia's strategic interests, the long-running U.S.-Saudi relationship, and the possibility that the nuclear deal could eventually pave the way for normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

The discussion also looks at Saudi Arabia's role in the Abraham Accords, continued Israeli overflights through Saudi airspace, growing cooperation on Lebanon, shared concerns about Iran, the potential impact of Israel's upcoming elections, and why some of Israel's most enduring diplomatic breakthroughs have come under conservative governments.

Is the nuclear agreement simply about reactors and energy?

Or is it the first step toward reshaping the Middle East for decades to come?