As the largest Palestinian community outside the Middle East advances an aggressive anti-Israel agenda bordering on anti-Semitism, Chile is facing constant attacks on its democracy and its heritage of inclusiveness.
At a time when the world is polarized, and our region faces challenges of all kinds, multilateral efforts to achieve common objectives, such as the Summit of the Americas now underway in Lima, Peru, should be welcomed – and called on to deliver results.
After a bipartisan, coast-to-coast outcry, President Trump signed an executive order maintaining the administration’s “zero tolerance” policy toward asylum-seekers and immigrants but – in a welcome move – terminating the practice of separating children from their families. While seemingly a win for a bipartisan approach to the issue, such a view is in truth a sadly superficial reading of the situation.
Why is Israel returning to Africa? For Netanyahu, one reason dominates all others. “The automatic majority against Israel at the UN is composed—first and foremost—of African countries,” he told a gathering of Israel’s ambassadors to Africa in February of last year. “Whether in the end or at the outset, our goal is to change their voting patterns.”
Former President Sebastián Piñera won Chile’s presidential election on Sunday, December 17. His triumph demonstrates a turn towards the center-right in a region that has been dominated by leftist movements for over a decade. In 2012, Piñera became the first Chilean president to visit Israel, a fact that sets great expectations for the future of bilateral cooperation.
