WEEKEND REVIEW: Ukraine, Gaza and Columbia University

Discussing how it all somehow connects on NewsNation -- and not one word about tariff wars!

Things that once seemed unthinkable are now reality. In Ukraine, the US is restricting satellite intelligence to Kyiv, potentially forcing it into a surrender to Russia. In Gaza, Trump’s administration is both threatening Hamas with “hell to pay” and engaging with Hamas-linked figures, while appearing to goad Israel into renewing the war. And the administration is pulling $400 million from Columbia University – my alma mater, as it happens – for failing to protect Jewish students, signaling a shift in how the government deals with progressive academia’s tolerance of antisemitism (by blackmail, basically).

I tried to break it all down today on NewsNation with anchor Hena Doba – and there was not even one word about tariff wars! I offer the conversation here, to set up the week to come. We live in interesting times, and that doesn’t stop on weekends!

HD: With us now is Dan Perry, former chief editor for the Associated Press in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and opinion contributor to our partners at TheHill.com. Welcome to the show. So, President Trump threatening those additional sanctions on Russia as the White House also goes after Russian cryptocurrency exchanges. I have to ask you, what pressure is this going to actually put on Putin to come to the negotiating table after three years of war?

DP: I sincerely doubt it will make a difference. You know, the sanctions against Russia, banking sanctions against Russia, a trade embargo essentially on Russia by most of the West, including the U.S., has been in existence. And Russia has found ways to get around it by finding new partners, by finding ways to get to energy markets circuitously through Azerbaijan and other countries.

I think mainly it's messaging. Trump has been accused of acting almost like a puppet of Putin, having adopted the Kremlin's messaging and narratives, in some cases saying utterly nonsensical things that make him look like he's in the thrall of Putin. I kind of sense that this is an effort to counter that and to create the impression that in fact he's equidistant from both sides, putting pressure on both sides, and somehow to regain the credibility that he certainly has lost with America's allies because of events of the past month.

HD: “To create the impression.” That is interesting. We should mention the Trump administration has even pulled back on Ukraine's access to satellites. Dan, how is that impacting the war on the ground, especially with these overnight attacks we just saw?

DP: It could be devastating if they really, really go all the way. Ukraine depends on this, depends on the satellites and other technology provided by the West and by the Americans for basic battlefield intel. I think they're going to clearly try to force Ukraine to come to the table and do a deal on terms that, before the U.S. election, would have been unfathomable and that many critics are going to charge essentially amounts to a surrender or a deal on Putin's terms. The question at the end of the day is whether a way will be found to provide Ukraine with a) security guarantees and b) some sort of consolation prize, maybe in the form of, let's say, a fast track to European Union membership so that it doesn't look like they lost the war. The sense, in Europe in particular, is that if Putin ends up thinking that his aggression was handsomely rewarded, then he will turn next to Moldova, to the Baltic countries and quite possibly Eastern European nations like Romania, where indeed Putin already stands accused of having tried to interfere in the November election to bring about a victory by a pro-Putin candidate.

HD: All right, Dan, let's move on to the Middle East, specifically Israel-Gaza. President Trump’s now threatening Hamas with, quote, hell to pay, after members of his administration met with the group … Stephen Whitkoff did just a few days ago. This is a major change in the U.S. policy of not negotiating directly with terrorists. How effective is this new strategy going to be in getting the phase-two ceasefire talks back in motion?

DP: Well, the strategy of not negotiating with terrorists was always a little bit of a pretense. In various ways Israel's negotiating with Hamas, albeit indirectly through Qatar. But because Qatar is the bankroller of Hamas and a major supporter of Hamas, you are, in effect, still negotiating with Hamas.

The major leverage that Trump has here is that it appears that he's willing to give Israel a green light to go back to war and essentially level what's left of Gaza. Now, that's only a threat if you're dealing with rational players who would like not to be leveled. In the case of Hamas, you could say that they're negotiating hard and pretending not to care, but I'm kind of convinced, because if you look at what happened in Gaza over the past year and four months, the devastation that has been visited on Hamas would have created a surrender by almost any other antagonist that I've seen in history. And yet they're hanging on, and they seem to be genuinely suicidal. And they've radicalized the population to the point where there is some support for this among the people of Gaza.

I think the one thing that may prevent a renewal of the war is the fact that it would be unpopular in Israel. Netanyahu, even if he somehow, incredibly, manages to survive this debacle, by which I mean the failure of October 7th and everything since, he still has elections next year. And when 70 to 75 percent of the people are telling the government that they want the war to end and they want the hostages prioritized, it will be difficult politically for Netanyahu to resume the war when it's quite understood that that contains within it the likelihood of the sacrifice of the lives of the remaining hostages. And there are believed to be about 24, 25 living hostages still in the hands of Hamas.

HD: Let's come back to the States. The White House is just announcing cutting 400 million dollars in funding for Columbia University, claiming they didn't do enough to protect Jewish students from those pro-Palestinian protests we saw last year. This is a clear message of support for Israel. What kind of message does that send to other universities that were playing with these same protests last year?

DP: Well, you know, it somehow became acceptable in the U.S. to essentially support Hamas. And not all free speech is protected. That somehow was, even though Hamas clearly has emerged as one of the most diabolical terrorist groups in the history of history. The White House is making clear that this is hate speech and it will not be tolerated, and to the degree that it can essentially blackmail universities into not tolerating it, so it will do.

This factors into a bigger thing. The Ivy League universities in the United States are widely seen by many people, including increasingly many American Jews who are a major source of funding for these universities and a major source of support for the Democratic Party … as having gone full progressive, as having become places where you do not have free speech except for anti-Semitism. And essentially, there are federal funds that these universities benefit from that will potentially be taken away, not just from Columbia, but from others.

The University of Pennsylvania has clearly responded to this with various moves, essentially walking back DEI and other such things. You're seeing that at Harvard as well. There is a course correction that is being required by the federal government of these academic institutions that have gone very far left - which has translated into hatred of Israel and acceptance of jihadi terrorism.

HD: Dan Perry, we always appreciate your time. And again, the context is always so excellent. Thank you.