In the October 22, 2025, opening session of the Israel Insights webinar series, Amichai Magen, Director of the Jan Koum Israel Studies Program at Stanford’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), spoke with Professor Azar Gat, the Ezer Weitzman Chair of National Security and Head of the International and Executive MA Programs in Security and Diplomacy in the School of Political Science, Government and International Affairs at Tel Aviv University.

Professor Gat’s talk, based on his recent essay for Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), explored what he calls “the problem with the Palestinian problem” — why the conflict has remained uniquely intractable despite decades of negotiation and apparent consensus around a two-state framework. He argued that the dominant national narrative has not centered on the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, but on the rectification of what is perceived as the injustice of 1948 — the very establishment of the Jewish state itself. The discussion concluded with a Q&A session exploring implications for Israeli strategy, regional normalization, and the evolving balance between realism and hope in future negotiations.

A full recording of the webinar can be viewed below: