The Shift Towards Post-Islamism

Monday, February 17, 2025
1:00PM Eastern Time

Islamism may appear to be in decline in the Middle East but it is adapting. Movements that once sought caliphates have shifted their strategies, sometimes, shedding overt ideological commitments in favor of pragmatic governance. The recent transformation of Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham in Syria offers a case study of a post-Islamist Islamism where Islamists claim to prioritize state capacity over a rigid ideology. Is this a tactical shift or a genuine evolution? Does it weaken or strengthen Islamism? How should policymakers respond?

Hussein Aboubakr Mansour, a Milstein Writing Fellow at the Middle East Forum, is an Egyptian-American analyst who focuses on Islamist ideology, Muslim antisemitism, and American universities. He grew up in Cairo, where he from an early age was attracted to Salafism. Later, the Egyptian authorities targeted him when he pushed back against antisemitism, leading to his emigration to the United States and political asylum. Mr. Mansour has worked as an assistant professor of Hebrew language at the DoD’s Defense Language Institute. He has published in Commentary, The Hill, Mosaic, and Tablet. His autobiography, Minority of One: The Unchaining of an Arab Mind appeared in 2020; he calls his Substack The Abrahamic Critique and Digest. He studied at Cairo University and holds an M.A. from George Washington University.

Israel Insider

with Ashley Perry

Wednesday, February 19, 2025
3:00PM Eastern Time

Will Phase Two of Israel’s hostage deal with Hamas be implemented? Who is for and who is against? What are the implications?

Ashley Perry is an advisor to the Middle East Forum’s Israel office. He served as adviser to Israel's minister of foreign affairs and deputy prime minister in 2009-15, and has also worked with Israel's Ministers of Intelligence, Agriculture and Rural Development, Energy, Water and Infrastructure, Defense, Tourism, Internal Security, and Immigrant Absorption and as an advisor to The Negev Forum. Originally from the U.K., he moved to Israel in 2001. He holds a B.A. from University College London and an M.A. from Reichman University (IDC Herzliya).

The Middle East Forum, an activist think tank, deals with the Middle East, Islamism, U.S. foreign policy, and related topics, urging bold measures to protect Americans and their allies. Pursuing its goals via intellectual and operational means, the Forum recurrently has policy ideas adopted by the U.S. government.