From Washington, the issue of American leadership – much in the news these days in the wake of President Trump’s recent interactions with counterparts in Europe and the Middle East – has a distinctly abstract air.
The same terrorist methods developed and used by the Palestinians against Israeli civilians for years are now being employed by ISIS against Europeans: car-rammings, stabbings, and suicide bombings in public spaces.
During his visit to Santiago, Chile earlier this month, AJC CEO David Harris met with the editors of La Palabra Israelita, the country’s national Jewish newspaper. The interview was published as Chileans went to the polls, electing Gabriel Boric as the next president. The issues David discussed included antisemitism in Chile and the region, the sizable Palestinian community in Chile, and challenges to relations between Chile and Israel and to U.S.-Chile ties.
We, the participants of the Strategic Forum for Leaders of Ibero-American Jewish Communities convened in Santiago, Chile, by the Belfer Institute for Latino and Latin American Affairs of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) from December 3 to 5, 2023.
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.