On the opening night of the first-ever AJC Global Forum in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the largest-ever gathering of an American Jewish advocacy organization in Jerusalem.
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.”
Within a relatively short period of time, a full load of sobering, even shattering, bad news has rained upon Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s head.
News reports suggest the U.S. administration is considering a historic decision to redefine who is and is not a Palestinian “refugee.” I hope the reports are true. A change is long overdue and could actually help the search for peace long-term.
Europe has joined America as a migrant-receiving space, and as recent events have shown, immigration can be explosive unless properly handled. The American example, as well as my own family experience, offers some possible guidelines.