Syria and Iran are entwined tighter than an intricately woven Persian carpet. Unless Syrian President Bashar Assad has a change of heart and decides to expel Iranian forces, his most treasured foreign guests are staying.
President Biden recently made his first visit to the Middle East as president. It included two days in Israel, along with separate meetings with Palestinians in East Jerusalem and Bethlehem and two days in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Arabia leg was politically controversial in the US primarily because of the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 as well as criticism of the Saudi role in the war in Yemen. The president’s visit to Israel was a welcome opportunity to show support for a beleaguered ally, but it broke little new ground.
September 15 marks the third anniversary of the signing of the Abraham Accords on the White House lawn, an occasion that American Jewish Committee (AJC) is delighted to celebrate with our partners across the region.
The Abu Dhabi conference was surely a significant indicator of an increasingly positive view on engagement with Jewry on the part of religious and political authorities in the region.
By discontinuing the DACA program, which protected close to 800,000 undocumented young people from deportation, President Trump has turned away from the classic American credo that has immeasurably strengthened and defined America: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."