UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Mohammed Gargash, in a historic public appearance by a senior Arab government official before a global Jewish organization, today addressed the American Jewish Committee (AJC) Virtual Global Forum. Gargash and other senior UAE officials have welcomed AJC delegations on regular visits to the Gulf state for more than 20 years. “AJC has been a quite remarkable bridge for the region. The fruit of AJC work has been impressive and substantive,” he said.
The question of the designation of Hezbollah by European countries and by the EU is partly a question of reconciling the law with the facts. But it will remain ultimately a question of politics. As such, any decision regarding its status should be part of a broader diplomatic and/or counterterrorism strategy.
In the wake of the unprecedented tragedy of the Holocaust, it was anything but obvious that a Jewish group would seek to engage postwar Germany. But that’s exactly what American Jewish Committee (AJC), alone among global Jewish organizations, did.
European leaders ought to be clearly on the U.S. side on this issue. They should play hardball with Moscow and Beijing and announce diplomatic, if not economic, consequences if the two countries block a new Security Council resolution to extend the arms embargo. Such muscular posturing would also be Europe's best bet to preserve what's left of the JCPOA.