Elliott Abrams

Elliott Abrams served in the Reagan administration as Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs and then for Inter-American Affairs, returned to government under President George W. Bush as Deputy National Security Advisor for Global Democracy Strategy (2005-2009) with a specific portfolio on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and served under President Trump as Special Representative for Venezuela (2019) and Special Representative for Iran (2020). Born January 24, 1948, in New York City, Abrams graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School and has been one of the central figures in neoconservative foreign policy thinking for five decades.

Abrams's scholarly and policy work on Israel is extensive. His 2013 book "Tested by Zion: The Bush Administration and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict" provides the most detailed inside account of the Bush administration's handling of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and is a primary source document for anyone seeking to understand how American policy on Israeli settlements, Palestinian governance, and security cooperation evolved during that period. As NSA staff, he managed the administration's response to Hamas's 2006 legislative election victory and the subsequent internal Palestinian conflict that split the Palestinian Authority from Hamas — a period in which American support for Fatah against Hamas had direct implications for Israeli security.

Post-government, Abrams has been a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, writing and speaking on Israel, Iran, Palestinian governance, and American Middle East strategy. He has been a consistent critic of the Palestinian Authority's continued failure to build institutions that could sustain a viable state, a consistent opponent of the Iran nuclear deal, and a consistent advocate for American military and diplomatic support for Israel without conditions. His intellectual output — columns, books, and testimony — provides the kind of detailed historical and policy analysis that shapes how sophisticated policymakers think about the conflict's deep structure. At Rank 74, Abrams is the neoconservative foreign policy veteran whose five decades of government service and scholarly output have made him one of the most authoritative voices on the history and future of American policy toward Israel.