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Highlights from Sebastian Kurz's Keynote Speech on EU-Israel Relations and Jewish Life in Europe
Analysis
Iran Nuclear Talks: 2021 Is Not 2015
Resuming contacts with Iran has become an early foreign policy priority for the Biden administration and Europe. AJC CEO David Harris offers in his latest piece in The Times of Israel six recommendations for any future negotiations with Tehran. Since last year’s Abraham Accords the Middle East has undergone a fundamental shift. Consulting closely with America’s Sunni allies and Israel, President Biden can now rectify the JCPOA’s shortcomings on regional aggression, ballistic missiles, inspections, and the accord’s dangerous sunset clauses, which give the regime a patient pathway to nuclear threshold capability.
The Abraham Accords’ ‘Side Deals’
The U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords achieved even more than the historic establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and three Arab nations. Jason Isaacson, AJC’s Chief Policy and Political Affairs Officer, argues in Newsweek that the agreement’s critical ‘side deals’ ought to be honored. Both the $23 billion sale of F-35 warplanes to Abu Dhabi and U.S. recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara – with Sahrawi autonomy – will bolster ties with and among these critical allies to promote regional stability, counter extremist forces and address human needs.
Reality Check: Israel, the Palestinians, and COVID Vaccines
Israel is the world’s front-runner on COVID vaccine distribution. It didn’t take long for libelous accusations to surface that the Jewish state deliberately neglected the Palestinians even though the Oslo Accords gave the Palestinian Authority sole responsibility for health care and Ramallah never asked for Israeli help. In this Times of Israel opinion piece, AJC CEO David Harris takes on the journalists, members of Congress, and activists who are propagating falsehoods about Israel and sets the record straight about the Palestinian vaccination program.
Have the Transatlantic Stars Aligned on Iran?
Europe and the U.S. have been bitterly divided these past four years on how to counter Iran’s regional and nuclear aggression. Writing in Newsweek, AJC Transatlantic Institute Director Daniel Schwammenthal argues that U.S. President-elect Joe Biden now has a unique opportunity to forge a united transatlantic front against Tehran. Germany’s sudden call for a robust follow-up deal to the JCPOA and France’s public censure of the regime for its murder of the journalist Ruhollah Zam are promising signs.
The Hezbollah Threat in Hungary and Policy Options for Counterterrorist Efforts
15 December 2020
By Zsolt Csepregi
There are currently numerous terrorist organizations posing significant dangers to European, including Hungary’s security, but none has such an easy access to resources and...
Europe Can’t Fight Antisemitism While Ignoring Threats to Israel
The EU regularly expresses its commitment to Israel’s security. But when it comes to the deadly threats the Jewish state faces, more often than not Europe is missing in action. In this POLITICO Europe opinion piece, AJC CEO David Harris raises questions about Europe's mixed messaging towards Jerusalem, its misguided policy on Iran and Hezbollah, the memory of the Holocaust, and the global fight against antisemitism.
Let the Game-Changing Begin
The U.S.-brokered peace agreement between Israel and Morocco goes all the way to the civilizational level. AJC Chief Policy and Political Affairs Officer Jason Isaacson explains in The Times of Israel how this year’s fourth diplomatic breakthrough for Israel in the Arab world is unique. This historic revival of the millennia-old ties between Morocco and the Jewish people are an example for others in the region to follow: “The season of game changing may be just beginning.”
The Underappreciated Abraham Accords
This year’s historic Abraham Accords inked between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain weren't everywhere met with the enthusiasm they deserve. Benedetta Buttiglione, the AJC Transatlantic Institute’s EU Policy Advisor, dissects in La Voce Repubblicana the flawed assumptions underpinning conventional thinking about the Middle East. A growing number of Arab nations are seeing the benefits of partnering with Israel and no longer allow their own interests to be held hostage by Palestinian intransigence.
Europe, Do Better At The UN
The UN General Assembly is poised to pass a total of 17 resolutions targeting Israel while omitting Palestinian terror and attempting to erase the millennia-old Jewish ties to Jerusalem. In comparison, the world’s worst human rights abusers like Iran will get a slap on the wrist. Writing in New Europe, the AJC Transatlantic Institute’s Deputy Director Michael Sieveking calls on the EU – currently under Germany’s presidency – to oppose this diplomatic assault on the Jewish state.
Europe Must Fight Political Islam
Islamist radicalism and violent extremism are on the rise in Western societies, as the deadly attacks recently in Vienna and the beheading of a French teacher chillingly reminded us. Writing in Europe’s best-selling newspaper BILD, AJC Europe Director Simone Rodan-Benzaquen and AJC Berlin Director Remko Leemhuis urge governments to cut ties with Islamist groups propagating anti-Western ideologies, like those linked to Iran’s regime or the Muslim Brotherhood: “We must set our sights on the organizations of political Islam, which are not violent themselves but create the climate for such murders.”