[The Israel Defense Forces’ readiness could be affected due to the thousands of military reservists who have sworn to stop volunteering if Netanyahu advances his overhaul of the courts.] In the short term, there could be operational issues, especially if particular units are not up to Israeli standards, which are pretty high standards. The numbers are considerable, especially in some of the squadrons.
Natan Sachs is the director of the Center for Middle East Policy and a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Program at Brookings.
He has taught as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s Department of Government and its Security Studies Program. Prior to joining Brookings, Sachs was a Fulbright fellow in Indonesia, a visiting fellow at Tel Aviv University’s Dayan Center for Middle East and African Studies, and a Hewlett fellow at Stanford’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law.
Sachs is an expert on Israeli foreign policy, its domestic politics, and on U.S. policy toward the Middle East. His writing has appeared in such publications as Foreign Affairs, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, The New York Times Global, Yediot Ahronot, and Haaretz. His forthcoming book describes the aftermath of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the dangers of both a one-state agenda and “anti-solutionism,” and recommends policy for promoting a more peaceful and just relationship among Israelis and Palestinians.
Sachs has provided testimony before Congress and has offered expert commentary to the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, Bloomberg, and many other publications. He has appeared on TV and radio with CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, the BBC, Bloomberg, Israel Channel 12, Haaretz, and Galei Tzahal, among others.
Sachs is a graduate of the Amirim Excellence program at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He received his master’s and doctorate in political science from Stanford University.
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Areas of Expertise
- Israeli politics and society
- Arab-Israeli conflict
- Politics of religion and identity
- Indonesia
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Past Positions
- Hewlett Pre-doctoral Fellow, Stanford Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law
- Fulbright Fellow, Indonesia
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Education
- Ph.D. and M.A., Stanford University
- B.A., Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Mentions and Appearances
The Netanyahus — who travel together even on diplomatic trips — are notorious in Israel for their reportedly extravagant habits … The contrast of the historic achievement and the petty acts is remarkable, even tragic.
There has been long term and deep damage to Democratic support of Israel. You cannot fix that quickly. Netanyahu can play nice with Biden, but for most Democrats he is in the enemy camp.
It would be hard for [Blue and White leader Benny] Gantz to accept being number two to Bibi now, especially after his party did so well.
Politically speaking, [suggesting a possible U.S.-Israel defense pact] is a pretty weak gesture … Compared to recognizing the Golan Heights, this is pretty paltry.
The real game is about the indictment: whether [Netanyahu] gets immunity from it, whether he can survive indictment and keep the coalition going even while on trial — those are the real questions.
The result is that anything that emphasizes Netanyahu’s relationship to the [Trump] administration … is a very good political prop for Netanyahu.
… the Democratic Party now has a younger generation that views the Israel-Palestine conflict through the lens of human and civil rights rather than a question of security and terrorism.
[Netanyahu will] be speaking in English to an American crowd, but the most important audience will be the Israelis back home.
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