The October 22, 2025, session of the Israel Insights webinar series featured a discussion 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. Hosted by the Jan Koum Israel Studies Program (JKISP) at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, the webinar was moderated by JKISP Director Amichai Magen. Gat described “the problem with the Palestinian problem" as outlined in his recent essay for Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), detailing his approach to why the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has remained uniquely challenging despite decades of negotiation and apparent consensus around a two-state solution. The primary "Palestinian ethos," he argued, has not centered on creating an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, but rather it has centered on the rectification of what is perceived as the injustice of 1948, wherein the Jewish state was established. In the Q&A, Gat and Magen explored implications for Israeli strategy, regional normalization, and the balance between realism and hope in future negotiations.

A full recording of the webinar can be viewed below: