“'[Middle East policy] will not figure prominently,’ Dennis Ross, a former special assistant to president Barack Obama, and now William Davidson Distinguished Fellow at The Washington Institute, told the Post. ‘COVID-19 and the economic realities will be the preoccupation [of this election cycle],’ he predicted.
“’Foreign policy, in general, will factor in, as it relates to getting broader control over the virus and the prospects for economic recovery,’ he noted. ‘Demand for oil will remain depressed, reducing the public’s interest in the region. Iran will try to build pressure on our presence in Iraq, and could miscalculate in what could trigger an American response. The one issue that could come up for debate – dividing the Jewish community and reflecting division between Democrats and Republicans – is Israeli annexation unilaterally in the West Bank…’”