Jonathan Schanzer

Jonathan Schanzer is a veteran writer and speaker on Middle East affairs. He is senior vice president for research at FDD, a nonpartisan think tank that analyzes national security and foreign policy. For 11 years, he has overseen the work of the organization's experts and scholars. Jonathan previously worked as a terrorism finance analyst at the US Department of the Treasury, where he played an integral role in the designation of numerous terrorist financiers. He has held previous think tank...See more

Jonathan Schanzer is a veteran writer and speaker on Middle East affairs. He is senior vice president for research at FDD, a nonpartisan think tank that analyzes national security and foreign policy. For 11 years, he has overseen the work of the organization's experts and scholars. Jonathan previously worked as a terrorism finance analyst at the US Department of the Treasury, where he played an integral role in the designation of numerous terrorist financiers. He has held previous think tank research positions at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the Middle East Forum.Jonathan has written hundreds of articles on the Middle East, along with more than a dozen monographs and chapters for edited volumes. His three previous books have made unique contributions to the field of Middle Eastern studies. State of Failure: Yasser Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Unmaking of the Palestinian State (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) argues the main roadblock to Palestinian statehood is the Palestinian Authority's political dysfunction and mismanagement. Hamas vs. Fatah: The Struggle for Palestine (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008) is still the only book on the market that analyzes the ongoing Palestinian civil war. Al-Qaeda's Armies: Middle East Affiliate Groups and the Next Generation of Terror (Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 2004) was the first to explore the al-Qaeda franchises in the Middle East.Jonathan has testified often before Congress. He has appeared on television channels such as Fox News, BBC, and CNN and on Arabic-language television channels such as Al Arabiya and Al Hurra. Jonathan has traveled widely throughout the Middle East, including to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Yemen, Egypt, Morocco, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Turkey, Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian territories.Jonathan studied Middle East history in four countries. He earned his Ph.D. from King's College London, where he wrote his dissertation on the US Congress and its efforts to combat terrorism in the 20th century. He speaks Arabic and Hebrew. See less