The Wars in Gaza and Lebanon, and Trump 2.0.

In her remarks to the IIEA, Hannah McCarthy will discuss Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza that is emptying much of the northern territory of the Palestinian enclave amid a near total media blackout. In October, Israel carried out its first land invasion of Lebanon since 2006. Israeli forces have conducted air strikes across the Lebanese state, heavily damaging Hezbollah strongholds and displacing civilians en-masse from their homes. Despite suffering heavy losses across its ranks, Hezbollah remains a potent force and continues to launch strikes on Israel, which is facing threats from Iran and its proxies and allies in Iraq and Yemen. With a second Trump presidency on the horizon, Hannah McCarthy will ask how the next White House might approach one of the most violent and unstable periods the Middle East region has faced in decades.

Speaker bio:

Hannah McCarthy is an international journalist, documentary maker and lawyer. Originally from Dublin, Hannah has reported on humanitarian crises and conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel-Palestine, Lebanon, Russia and Ukraine. Her reporting has been published by international and national outlets including The Financial Times, The Guardian and The Irish Times, as well as broadcast on NPR, the BBC World Service, Monocle and RTÉ. Her RTÉ Radio Documentary The Taliban and Me about the lives of three women after the fall of Kabul received a Justice Media Merit Award in 2023. In 2024, Hannah won the award for best foreign coverage at the Irish Journalism awards for her reporting in the occupied West Bank and Afghanistan, as well as the Red Cross Humanitarian Journalism Award. She was also nominated for a Goss.ie Women of the Year news industry award and several Justice Media Awards. Hannah is a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin and the University of Cambridge.