Professor Avraham Sela discusses how the tactics and strategies of Hamas have shifted since its establishment.
In this season of the Center's Israel In Depth podcast, host and Director of the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center, Professor Dov Waxman, will discuss various facets of the unfolding Israel–Hamas War with a range of experts across disciplines and backgrounds with the goal of helping listeners understand this conflict in all of its complexities.
About the Episode
Hamas is a large, sophisticated, multi-faction organization that has changed significantly in the thirty years since its original formation. In this episode of the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies' podcast "Israel in Depth," Center Director Dov Waxman and international relations and Middle East politics expert Professor Avraham Sela discuss how and why Hamas’ leadership, organizational structure, tactics, and goals have changed over time. How have disagreements between the leaders of Hamas’ social and military wings pushed Hamas to adopt more hardline positions? How have strengthened relations with Iran changed Hamas’ tactics and goals? How has the legacy of ISIS affected the nature of Hamas’ terror attacks? Has progressivism and growing international delegitimization of Israel encouraged Hamas to abandon the prospects of compromise with Israel? In addition to these questions and more, Waxman and Sela discuss how Israel can and should respond to Hamas’ governance in Gaza after the 10/7 terrorist attacks, and what challenges the post-war state of Gaza might pose for Israel diplomatically. This episode was recorded on November 17, 2023. Watch this episode on YouTube
About the Guest Speaker
Professor Avraham Sela is the A. Ephraim and Shirley Diamond Chair in the Department of International Relations and a senior fellow at the Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. This year, he also is the Aaron and Cecile Goldman Visiting Israeli Professor at Georgetown. He is a leading scholar in Middle East politics, with specializations on inter-Arab and Arab–Israeli relations in regional and historical perspectives, contemporary Palestinian politics and society, and transnational foreign fighters in comparative perspective. In addition to many published articles, Professor Sela’s published books include: The Decline of the Arab Israeli Conflict: Middle East Politics and the Quest for Regional Order, The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East, and The Palestinian Hamas: Vision, Violence and Adjustment. Prior to his academic career he served for 16 years as an analyst in the Research division of the IDF intelligence. In this capacity he was involved in the Israeli-Egyptian peace talks (1978–80) and was later a member of the Israeli delegation to the military talks with Lebanon (1984–1985).
DISCLAIMER: The views or opinions of our guest speakers and the content of their presentations do not necessarily reflect the views of the UCLA Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies. Hosting speakers does not constitute an endorsement of the speaker's views or opinions.
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Duration: 00:40:45