The Morning: An uneasy Arab-Israeli alliance

Plus, Congress, A.I. and a book hospital.

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story April 18, 2024 By David Leonhardt Good morning. We're covering the uneasy alliance between Arab countries and Israel — as well as Congress, A.I. and a book hospital. In Tehran.  Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times The anti-Iran coalition To understand the current confrontation between Iran and Israel, it helps to think about three recent phases of Middle East geopolitics. Phase 1: Before Oct. 7 of last year, Iran was arguably the most isolated power in the region. The Biden administration was growing closer to Saudi Arabia, Iran's biggest rival for power. Israel, Iran's longtime enemy, had signed a diplomatic deal during the Trump administration with Bahrain, Morocco and the U.A.E. Iran, for its part, was financing a network of extremist groups such as Hamas and the Houthis. Together, these developments pointed to the emergence of a broad alliance — among Arab countries, Israel, the U.S. and Western Europe — to check Iranian influence and aggression. Phase 2: Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israel scrambled the situation. Israel's massive military response focused global attention on the plight of Palestinians — a subject that tends to isolate Israel. Arab leaders condemned Israel, while the U.S. and other countries pressured Israeli leaders to reduce suffering in Gaza and devise an end to the war. The anti-Iran coalition seemed to be fraying. Phase 3: The latest phase began last week, as Iran prepared to fire missiles and drones at Israel in retaliation for Israel's April 1 assassination of Iranian military commanders who work with groups like Hamas. This retaliation would become Iran's first direct attack on Israel. And the anti-Iran coalition reassembled to repel it. U.S. officials worked closely with Israel to intercept the missiles, as my colleague Peter Baker reported. British and French forces participated, too. Arab countries shared intelligence. Jordan went so far as to shoot down some drones itself. When President Biden commented on the attack's failure, he did so while sitting next to the prime minister of Iraq, which is home to a missile battery the U.S. had used during the operation. Even though Iran fired more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel, the joint response enabled Israel to avoid a single civilian death. John Kirby, a Biden aide, summarized the result as being "a stronger Israel, a weaker Iran, a more unified alliance." A new phase now? The question now is how Israel will respond to Iran. Israeli officials have said they must do so to exact a price that will deter future Iranian attacks. From Israel's perspective, Iran is already the aggressor: Its official policy is to seek the destruction of Israel, and Iran-backed groups — like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis — regularly attack Israelis. Israel has responded with covert assassinations of Iranian officials who lead this effort, such as the April 1 strike in Syria. After any future assassination, Israel does not want to face a new Iranian missile barrage. Some analysts believe that Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, also has a political incentive to prolong the conflict with Iran. That fight, Shibley Telhami of the University of Maryland told The Times, serves Netanyahu's interests as both "a distraction from the horrors of Gaza and as a way of changing the subject to an issue where he is more likely to get sympathy in the U.S. and the West." But a major response from Israel — one, say, that killed many Iranians — has the potential to destabilize the broad anti-Iran coalition, much as the war in Gaza has. "The point is to respond smartly, in a way that won't undermine the opportunity for regional and international cooperation," Michael Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., told The Wall Street Journal. Among the options Israel is considering: a cyberattack, targeted assassinations or a strike on an Iranian military base in another country. The Biden administration hopes that any attack will contribute to Iran's isolation rather than Israel's. The threat to Arab leaders And why are Arab leaders willing to be part of a coalition with Israel? As surprising as it may sound, many see Iran as a bigger problem than Israel, even if they don't say so publicly. The network of extremist groups that Iran funds and arms destabilizes the region. The Houthis have attacked Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. in recent years, for instance. Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt's government has long loathed. When Arab leaders worry about existential threats to their governments, Israel rarely makes the list. Iran and its network of outside groups do. "Many Arab leaders share the view that Hamas is a terrorist organization that should be destroyed," said my colleague Michael Crowley, who covers diplomacy. This shared view helps explain why the anti-Iran coalition came together in the first place. But it is a fragile coalition. Arab countries and Israel do not make for easy allies. When Israel is at war — in Gaza or elsewhere in the region — the alliance can come undone. Related: This is the third recent newsletter on shifting global coalitions, which I think are crucial to understanding the news right now. You can also read about Iran's "axis of resistance" and the emerging China-led alliance that includes Iran and Russia. For more Israel expected a small-scale response from Iran after the strike on the Iranian embassy complex in Syria, but it badly miscalculated, U.S. officials said. Tehran has evacuated personnel from sites in Syria in preparation for Israeli retaliatory strikes, Iranian officials told The Wall Street Journal. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT THE LATEST NEWS Congress Alejandro Mayorkas Anna Rose Layden for The New York Times The Senate dismissed the impeachment case against Alejandro Mayorkas, Biden's homeland security secretary. House Republicans have accused him of failing to enforce immigration law. Speaker Mike Johnson said that the House would vote on aid to Israel and Ukraine on Saturday, defying objections from the right. Biden has endorsed the legislation. Johnson could bundle the foreign aid package with a bill that would require either the sale of TikTok by its Chinese owners or a ban on the app in the U.S. More on Politics Arizona Republicans again blocked a Democrat-led effort to repeal the state's 1864 abortion ban. Some Republicans, including Donald Trump, supported a repeal. Biden plans to increase tariffs on steel and aluminum products from China. More than a dozen members of the Kennedy family will endorse Biden at a Philadelphia rally today in a pointed rejection of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s presidential bid. Columbia Hearing Nemat Shafik, the president of Columbia University. Amanda Andrade-Rhoades for The New York Times The leaders of Columbia University, appearing at a congressional hearing, described campus antisemitism as a major problem and vowed to combat it. Their approach differed from that of the presidents of three other universities who appeared before Congress last year — two of whom later lost their jobs. Read takeaways. Israel-Hamas War A Hezbollah missile attack wounded 14 soldiers in northern Israel, a day after an Israeli airstrike killed two of the militia's commanders in Lebanon. Gazans released from Israeli detention described being physically abused and deprived of food and water, according to a U.N. report. More International News In Zimbabwe.  Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/Associated Press Millions of people in southern Africa face hunger as a drought impacts crops and livestock. Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe have declared national emergencies. The men accused of carrying out the terrorist attack on a Moscow concert hall are from Tajikistan. The nation is a key source of recruits to an ISIS affiliate. Political parties in India are using artificial intelligence in their campaigns. One effort involved an avatar of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that addressed voters by name. Torrential rains fell in the United Arab Emirates and in Oman, killing at least 20 people. See photos of the flooding. Business A Boeing whistle-blower told a Senate panel that the company knowingly put out defective planes. A company owned by a Republican megadonor played a bigger role in the origins of TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, than previously known, according to court documents. After a judge voided a $47 billion pay package for Elon Musk, Tesla asked shareholders to approve it anyway. The board's action could prompt more lawsuits. Other Big Stories Executioners botched the lethal injections of Black people more than twice as often as those of white prisoners, according to a report by an anti-death-penalty group. An 11-year-old fossil hunter and her father found a piece of bone on an English beach. Scientists believe it belonged to a dinosaur-era creature that would be the largest known marine reptile. Opinions U.S.C. canceled a valedictorian's speech over fears of protest. In doing so, it signaled that students can silence one another by summoning a mob, David French writes. Here are columns by Pamela Paul on the benefit of college roommate assignments and Gail Collins on the difference between abortion and guns in politics. A subscription to match the variety of your interests. News. Games. Recipes. Product reviews. Sports reporting. A New York Times All Access subscription covers all of it and more. Subscribe today. MORNING READS The Pons-Brooks, greenish in color.  Irakli Gedenidze/Reuters Night sky: Earthlings have only a few more days to glimpse Pons-Brooks, a comet with a unique shape akin to the Millennium Falcon. It won't be back for 71 years. Literary guide: Read your way through Accra, Ghana's capital. Relationships: Can a sexless marriage be a happy one? Ancient abode: This lava tube in Saudi Arabia has been a human refuge for 7,000 years. Travel: There's an emergency on an airplane. Here's what flight attendants do next. Lives Lived: Anne Innis Dagg was often called "the Jane Goodall of giraffes." Dagg traveled to Africa in 1956 and was believed to have been the first Western scientist to study African animals of any type in the wild. She died at 91. SPORTS N.B.A.: The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Miami Heat, 105-104, to advance to the playoffs, where they will play the New York Knicks. The Heat will face the Chicago Bulls tomorrow in a win-or-go-home matchup. Gambling: The N.B.A. issued a lifetime ban to Jontay Porter of the Toronto Raptors after an investigation found that he had wagered on the league and shared inside information with bettors. W.N.B.A.: No. 1 pick Caitlin Clark is nearing an eight-figure endorsement deal with Nike. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT ARTS AND IDEAS At the Met's book conservation lab.  Nicholas Calcott for The New York Times The Sherman Fairchild Center for Book Conservation is a hospital for ailing books inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There, six conservationists work to repair books from every department in the museum. Some of the patients are rare and valuable, their pages worn down by time; others are ordinary, and have perhaps suffered a fall during regular use. "For people who love books, entering the lab is like getting hit with Cupid's arrow," the leader of the conservation team said. "People walk through this door with a dazed expression on their face, wanting to dedicate their entire lives to making sure the books are OK." See photos of the restoration process. More on culture Rusty Foster's newsletter, Today in Tabs, is an obsession of New York's media class. He writes it from a tiny island in Maine. Trump critiqued Jimmy Kimmel's turn as Oscars host on Truth Social. "This was five weeks ago," Kimmel said on his show. "My parents don't even care anymore!" THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. Bake a chocolate cake. Serve it plain or with espresso cinnamon mascarpone cream. Get comfortable with dirt. A little bit is good for you. Make pasta at home with these tools. Organize your small apartment. Lounge under a patio umbrella. GAMES Here is today's Spelling Bee. Yesterday's pangram was meadowy. And here are today's Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for the Morning newsletter from The New York Times, or as part of your New York Times account. To stop receiving The Morning, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings. To opt out of updates and offers sent from The Athletic, submit a request. 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