Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, the head of Realign for Palestine, an Atlantic Council project that challenges entrenched narratives in the Israel and Palestine discourse.

This week, the Board of Peace’s top Gaza envoy Nickolay Mladenov revealed the principles of the disarmament proposal submitted to Hamas earlier this month. He urged the international community to pressure the Palestinian terror group to accept the offer in order to prevent another cycle of violence in the Gaza Strip.

But before diving into what these principles entail, we place Hamas and the Gaza Strip into the context of the current US-Israel war on Iran.

Hamas, argues Alkhatib, triggered this war -- and potentially the downfall of the Islamic Republic -- through its murderous onslaught on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Will it now be the last terror proxy standing?

And so this week, we ask Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, what matters now.

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ari Schlacht.

IMAGE: Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, February 27, 2026. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

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Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib: Hamas triggered the Iran war. Now it may outlast the Islamic Republic

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Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib: Hamas triggered the Iran war. Now it may outlast the Islamic Republic