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Highlights from Sebastian Kurz's Keynote Speech on EU-Israel Relations and Jewish Life in Europe
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France’s Hezbollah Problem
With Lebanon’s future at stake, France holds the key to making a difference. Writing in the French weekly Le Point, AJC’s Simone Rodan-Benzaquen and Anne-Sophie Sebban-Bécache write from Paris that President Macron’s efforts will fail unless the government finally gets real on Hezbollah: “By considering Hezbollah as a legitimate interlocutor in the process — engaging its representatives in Lebanon — France is perpetuating the problems. Unless Macron addresses the issue of Hezbollah, nothing will change.”
AJC to Open Office in Abu Dhabi
AJC unveiled its plans to open an office in Abu Dhabi after the historic announcement of the U.S.-brokered peace between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. For over 25 years AJC has engaged with the Gulf by advancing understanding and fostering cooperation between Arab states and the Jewish people. As reported in The Times of Israel, UAE’s envoy to Washington, Yousef al-Otaiba, hailed AJC’s “longstanding dialogue and engagement with the UAE” which “has played a productive role over many years.”
The Plight of the Uyghurs in China
China’s devastating and systematic human rights violations have led to the detainment of up to three million Uyghurs in “reeducation camps.” AJC hosted Uyghur-American Nury Turkel, Commissioner of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and Chairman of the Board for the Uyghur Human Rights Project, for a timely discussion about the latest worrying developments in China and the international community’s moral imperative to stand up for the persecuted Muslim minority.
Launch of Transatlantic Declaration Video: The EU Must Ban Hezbollah
AJC’s Transatlantic Institute and the Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI), an inter-parliamentary group in the European Parliament with the goal of strengthening the trilateral partnership between the U.S., Israel...
AJC at RNC: U.S-Israel Partnership
The U.S. and Israel share democratic values, strategic interests, and a historic, multi-dimensional partnership that has long enjoyed bipartisan endorsement. At last week’s Republican National Convention AJC joined Executive Director of the Republican Jewish Coalition and the Jewish Policy Center Matt Brooks, Director of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council Kirsten Fontenrose, Mayor John Giles of Mesa, Arizona, and Representative Lee Zeldin for a conversation on the state of U.S.-Israel relations and the challenges and aspirations for the next four years.
AJC at RNC: U.S. Policy Toward Iran
The UN arms embargo on Iran is set to expire this October. What are the options to build an effective strategy to address the Iranian regime’s ongoing conventional and non-conventional threat? AJC hosted Ellie Cohanim, U.S. Assistant to the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, and Matthew McInnis, Deputy Director, Iran Action Group at the US Department of State, for a discussion on the Republican perspective on how to counter Tehran’s regional aggression and ballistic missile development – areas unaddressed in the 2015 nuclear deal.
AJC at DNC: U.S-Israel Partnership
Can we continue to rely on the U.S. bipartisan agreement on the benefits and necessity of the alliance with Israel? At this year’s Democratic National Convention AJC discussed with Representative Ted Deutch, Executive Director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America Halie Sofer, and President of the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace Robert Wexler how America’s critical ties with the Jewish state will evolve.
AJC at DNC: U.S. Policy Toward Iran
After the US withdrawal from the JCPOA, Tehran continues to advance its nuclear program under reimposed American sanctions. AJC held an in-depth conversation at the Democratic National Convention with Congressman Steve Israel (2001-2017) and the Ambassador of Bahrain to the U.S., H.E. Shaikh Abdulla Al-Khalifa, on the future of the JCPOA, Iran’s regional aggression and challenges for the next four years.
UAE-Israel Peace: Europe Must Put Aside its Outdated Thinking
The recent news of a U.S.-brokered historic peace deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates was electrifying. Moderate Arab states have much to gain from partnering with the Jewish state--from Jerusalem’s expertise in cyber-security and technology to counter-terrorism. AJC CEO David Harris reflects in Europe’s largest circulation newspaper BILD on the accord’s implications for the EU’s Middle East policy and urges Brussels to embrace the new regional dynamics reflected in the UAE-Israel deal.
To America, From a Worried European Friend
Writing in The Wall Street Journal, AJC Transatlantic Institute Director Daniel Schwammenthal argues that America is today what it has always been: a flawed society, like all others, but also a unique force for good in the world. If the country convinces itself that it’s inherently and irredeemably racist, it can’t possibly continue to believe that it has any right to lead the free world. As they watch America’s self-immolation, leaders in Moscow, Beijing and Tehran surely can’t believe their luck.