Since its independence from French colonial rule in 1943, Lebanon has been a perennial bellwether of major geopolitical trends in the modern Middle East. Strategically located, populated by a diverse patchwork of ethnic and religious groups, and often too weak to fend off external interference, Lebanon is the quintessential arena for order contestation in the region. With the weakening of Iran-backed Hezbollah inside Lebanon, the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, and an uneasy ceasefire with Israel, can Lebanon turn the corner towards improved governance, stability, and perhaps even peace? This panel will explore what current dynamics in Lebanon can teach us about the actors and forces shaping the Land of the Cedars, as well as the wider Middle East. 

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Hanin Ghaddar is the Friedmann Senior Fellow in The Washington Institute's Linda and Tony Rubin Program on Arab Politics. Her research focuses on Shia politics, Hezbollah, and Lebanon. The longtime managing editor of Lebanon's NOW news website, Ghaddar shed light on a broad range of cutting-edge issues, from the evolution of Hezbollah inside Lebanon's fractured political system to Iran's growing influence throughout the Middle East. Prior to joining NOW in 2007, Ghaddar wrote for the Lebanese newspapers As-Safir, An-Nahar, and Al-Hayat, and also worked as a researcher for the United Nations Development Program regional office. She is the author of the book “Hezbollahland.”

Abbas Milani is the Hamid and Christina Moghadam Director of Iranian Studies at Stanford University, one of the founding co-directors of the Iran Democracy Project and a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. His expertise includes U.S.-Iran relations as well as Iranian cultural, political, and security issues.

Amichai Magen is the Visiting Fellow in Israel Studies at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. In Israel, he is a Senior Lecturer (US Associate Professor), Head of the MA Program in Diplomacy & Conflict Studies, and Director of the Program on Democratic Resilience and Development (PDRD) at the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy, Reichman University. His research and teaching interests address democracy, the rule of law, liberal orders, risk and political violence.

On Monday, May 12, the Visiting Fellows in Israel Studies program at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law is pleased to welcome Israeli journalist and writer Amir Tibon to present the 2025 Daniel Pearl Memorial Lecture. Tibon will discuss his latest book, The Gates of Gaza: A Story of Betrayal, Survival, and Home in Israel's Borderlands.

The Daniel Pearl Memorial Lecture honors the life of Daniel Pearl (Class of '85), who was a journalist, musician, and family man dedicated to the ideals of peace and humanity. In 2002, Daniel was kidnapped and killed by terrorists in Pakistan while working as a foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal.

The 2025 Daniel Pearl Memorial Lecture is presented by the Visiting Fellows in Israel Studies program in partnership with the Daniel Pearl Foundation, the Taube Center for Jewish Studies, and Hillel at Stanford.
 

About the Book

A gripping first-person account of how one Israeli grandfather helped rescue two generations of his family on October 7, 2023—a saga that reveals the deep tensions and systemic failures behind Hamas's attacks that day.

On the morning of October 7, Amir Tibon and his wife were awakened by mortar rounds exploding near their home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, a progressive Israeli community less than a mile from Gaza City. Soon, they were holding their two young daughters in the family’s reinforced safe room, urging them not to cry as gunfire echoed just outside the door. With his cell phone battery running low, Amir texted his father: “The girls are behaving really well, but I’m worried they’ll lose patience soon and Hamas will hear us.”

Some 45 miles north, Amir’s parents had just cut short an early morning swim along the shores of Tel Aviv. Now, they jumped in their Jeep and sped toward Nahal Oz, armed only with a pistol but intent on saving their family at all costs.

In The Gates of Gaza, Amir Tibon tells this harrowing story in full for the first time. He describes his family's ordeal—and the bravery that ultimately led to their rescue—alongside the histories of the place they call home and the systems of power that have kept them and their neighbors in Gaza in harm’s way for decades. 

Woven throughout is Tibon's own expertise as a longtime international correspondent, as well as more than thirty original interviews: with residents of his kibbutz, with the Israeli soldiers who helped to wrest it from the hands of Hamas, and with experts on Gaza, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the failed peace process. More than one family's odyssey, The Gates of Gaza is the intimate story of a tight-knit community and the broader saga of war, occupation, and hostility between two national movements—a conflict that has not yet extinguished the enduring hope for peace.

Join the Visiting Fellows in Israel Studies program for lunch on Wednesday, February 26, as former ambassador to the EU Stewart Eizenstat, who has been actively involved in Holocaust restitution negotiations, U.S.-Israel relations, and Middle East peace policy discussions, discusses his new book, The Art of Diplomacy: How American Negotiators Reached Historic Agreements that Changed the World.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Stuart E. Eizenstat served as chief White House domestic policy adviser to President Jimmy Carter; in the Clinton administration, he served as U.S. ambassador to the European Union, undersecretary of commerce, undersecretary of state, and deputy secretary of the treasury. He was also special representative of the president and secretary of state on Holocaust issues, with continuing responsibilities on Holocaust issues, in the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations. He is the author of President Carter: The White House Years (2018), The Future of the Jews: How Global Forces Are Impacting the Jewish People, Israel, and Its Relationship with the United States (2012), and Imperfect Justice: Looted Assets, Slave Labor, and the Unfinished Business of World War II (2003). He is an international lawyer in Washington, DC, with Covington & Burling, LLP, and serves as chairman of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Council, appointed by President Joe Biden. He received the “Great Negotiator” award from Harvard Law School. This book is written in his personal capacity.