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Robert Satloff

  • Executive Director
  • Howard P. Berkowitz Chair in U.S. Middle East Policy
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Robert Satloff
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Robert Satloff has served since 1993 as executive director of The Washington Institute. In that capacity, he oversees all Institute operations and leads the organization's unparalleled team of Middle East scholars, experts and policy practitioners. He also holds the Institute's Howard P. Berkowitz Chair in U.S. Middle East Policy.

An expert on Arab and Islamic politics as well as U.S. Middle East policy, Dr. Satloff has written and spoken widely on the Arab-Israeli peace process, the challenge of Political Islam, and the need to revamp U.S. public diplomacy in the Middle East.

Soon after the September 11 attacks, Dr. Satloff and his family moved to Rabat, capital of Morocco, and for more than two years, he traveled throughout the Middle East and Europe and wrote extensively on ways to inject urgency and ideas into the ideological campaign against radical Islamism. That is the topic of his collection of essays, The Battle of Ideas in the War on Terror: Essays on U.S. Public Diplomacy in the Middle East (The Washington Institute, 2004).

During his time abroad, Dr. Satloff's personal research focused on unearthing stories of Arab "heroes" and "villains" of the Holocaust, drawing on archives, interviews, and site visits in eleven countries on four continents. His discoveries, which helped convince the German government to award compensation to Jewish survivors of labor camps in North Africa, are the subject of his bestselling book, Among the Righteous: Lost Stories of the Holocaust's Long Reach into Arab Lands (PublicAffairs, 2006). In 2010, PBS aired a one-hour documentary, hosted by Dr. Satloff and produced with MacNeil-Lehrer Productions, based on Among the Righteous. Listen to a podcast of Dr. Satloff discussing Among the Righteous as part of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Voices on Antisemitism series.

The author or editor of nine books and monographs, Dr. Satloff's views on Middle East issues appear frequently in major newspapers such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times. A frequent commentator on major television network news programs, talk shows, and National Public Radio, he has testified on numerous occasions to Senate and House committees concerned with U.S. Middle East policy.

In addition, Dr. Satloff is the creator and host of Dakhil Washington ("Inside Washington"), a news and interview program that has appeared weekly since 2005 on al-Hurra, the U.S. government-supported Arabic satellite television channel that beams throughout the Middle East. In that capacity, he is the only non-Arab to host a program on an Arab satellite channel.

Education

D.Phil., St. Antony's College, University of Oxford; M.A., Harvard University; B.A., Duke University

Robert Satloff
Download High-Resolution Portrait

Contact

(202) 230-9550 (media inquiries only)
(202) 452-0650 (other inquiries)
press@washingtoninstitute.org

Follow

  • https://twitter.com/RobSatloff twitter

Featured Publications

Wrestling with Annexation: The Elusive Search for a Policy Rationale
As soon as next month, Israel’s new government could approve plans to annex a substantial portion of the West Bank
Jun 11, 2020
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  • Robert Satloff
Maps & Graphics
Moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem: From Campaign Promise to Policy Challenge
If President Trump decides to honor his commitment to relocate the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem
Jan 17, 2017
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  • Robert Satloff
Key Elements of a Strategy for the United States in the Middle East
The United States needs to take action to prevent the collapse of the state system in the Middle East and
Apr 30, 2015
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  • Samuel Berger
  • Stephen Hadley
  • James Jeffrey
  • Dennis Ross
  • Robert Satloff
Israel: Asset or Liability? A Debate on the U.S.-Israel Relationship
Is Israel an asset or liability to the United States? This question -- which goes to the heart of U.S
Mar 3, 2011
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  • Robert Satloff
Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust's Long Reach into Arab Lands
Seeking a hopeful response to the plague of Holocaust denial that swept across the Middle East, one author set off on a quest to find an Arab hero whose story could change the way local communities view Jews, themselves, and their own history.
Oct 30, 2006
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  • Robert Satloff
The Battle of Ideas in the War on Terror: Essays on U.S. Public Diplomacy in the Middle East
Introduction Even before the flames raging within the twisted steel of the fallen World Trade Center towers were extinguished, a
Oct 25, 2004
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  • Robert Satloff
Assessing What Arabs Do, Not What They Say: A New Approach to Understanding Arab Anti-Americanism
Instead of focusing on what Arab publics say, this study argues, U.S. policy would be better informed by paying close attention to what Arab publics do.
Jul 11, 2006
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  • Robert Satloff
  • Eunice Youmans
Hamas Triumphant: Implications for Security, Politics, Economy, and Strategy
The victory of the Islamic Resistance Movement -- Hamas -- in Palestinian legislative elections on January 25 unleashed a political
Feb 17, 2006
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  • Robert Satloff

Policy Articles by Robert Satloff

A delegation of Gulf Arab men and women visit Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.
Articles & Testimony
The Crumbling Walls of Arab Holocaust Denial
Apr 8, 2021
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  • Robert Satloff
Hamzah Bin Hussein
Brief Analysis
The Hamzah Affair: Context and Implications of Jordan’s Royal Crisis
Apr 5, 2021
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  • Ghaith al-Omari
  • Robert Satloff
Assistant secretary of state David Schenker speaks at the Department of State in Washington, DC, alongside secretary of state Mike Pompeo
Brief Analysis
Middle East Policy from Trump to Biden: Views from Inside the State Department’s Near East Bureau
March 10, 2021
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  • David Schenker
  • Robert Satloff
Vice President Joe Biden arrives in Saudi Arabia
Articles & Testimony
Balancing Act: Biden Must Redefine the US-Saudi Relationship
Feb 25, 2021
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  • Dennis Ross
  • Robert Satloff
MbS, King Salman, Saudi map, fighter jet
In-Depth Reports
Defining a Mature, Balanced Relationship with Saudi Arabia An Urgent Task for the Biden Administration
Feb 22, 2021
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  • Dennis Ross
  • Robert Satloff
Northwest Africa map
In-Depth Reports
Seizing Opportunities and Strengthening Alliances in Northwest Africa: Ideas for Policy Toward Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia
Feb 3, 2021
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  • Robert Satloff
  • Sarah Feuer
All Policy Analysis
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