Elders of Zionism

From The Abraham Accords To The Ishmael Accords

Episode Notes

The world got flipped on its head again, and a second flip did not set it straight. Judah Friedman and Guy Goldstein open Episode 10 in full bizarro mode, then get to the deal almost nobody is talking about: a historic Lebanon-Israel agreement brokered through Marco Rubio's State Department after months of impossibly delicate work (01:07). They break down Israel's security buffer strategy and why it echoes 1983 (04:01), the three options that arrive at the end of any occupation (06:29), and the line that names the whole episode: the Abraham Accords are quietly mutating into the Ishmael Accords, with Gulf states paying protection money to the very regime they fear (09:58). From there it widens out: the Arab League's long failure and the two pillars the Abraham Accords were actually built on (11:55), why red lines and the strong horse still govern the region (17:17), why performative strikes convince no one anymore (24:40), and the case against handing F-35s to Erdogan's Turkey (30:58). The back half turns homeward to Mamdani's New York and what the socialist slate signals for the rest of the country (37:00), why none of it is organic (43:40), and a goodbye to Keir Starmer with a warning about what replaces him (45:55).