FIDF Shiri Yanay, Senior Manager, Delegation Content and Speakers, is joined by Jonathan Schanzer, Exec. Dir., Found. for Defense of Democracies (FDD) to discuss what’s been occurring over the last week, focusing primarily on Gaza but also touching on other key threats: Hezbollah in the north, Iran’s regional influence, and U.S.-Israel relations. Schanzer addresses international claims that Israel is starving Gaza, calling such narratives misleading and emphasizing the complexity of the war zone. Schanzer explains that Hamas embeds itself in civilian infrastructure, making IDF operations slow and difficult, and that the absence of a clear post-war governance plan for Gaza is becoming a strategic liability. He warns that Hezbollah in the north poses a far greater threat than Hamas, with daily attacks forcing tens of thousands of Israelis to evacuate. Iran, he argues, is the central actor behind these threats, funding and arming its proxies across the region. Schanzer criticizes U.S. policy for not doing enough to constrain Iran’s reach, though he affirms that military cooperation between the U.S. and Israel remains strong. He also stresses the importance of fighting misinformation in the media, which he believes Hamas exploits effectively. Finally, he urges continued support for the IDF and warns of the growing global antisemitism tied to the war's narrative battlefield.

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