Moment
The latest news came late last week. Morocco has joined the growing list of Arab countries upgrading their relations with Israel. This list now includes the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan.
One of Donald Trump’s favorite lines when addressing Jewish American or Israeli listeners, is that if he ran for office in Israel, he’d get “98 percent” of the votes.
He’s not exaggerating by much.
You don’t have to feel sorry for Israel’s right-wing politicians and ideologues, but if by some chance you want to, here is one possible reason: They often seem like winners and become losers.
Aaron David Miller is a veteran Middle East peace negotiator, analyst and author, now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Miller spoke with Moment editor-in-chief Nadine Epstein about the recent Israel-UAE peace deal.
“This doesn’t mean that the Jewish pro-Israel left is about to win its fight against annexation. But it does show that their voice is strong enough to sway staunch AIPAC supporters to speak out against the Israeli government’s line, and that, perhaps in a marginal way, they will make Netanyahu listen, if not to American Jews, than to pro-Israel American lawmakers.”
“For all the tightrope walking, the carefully formulated nuanced comments, and the impossible straddling between wishing to allow Israel to make its own decisions while providing cautionary input from abroad, American Jews and their views don’t really move the needle in Netanyahu and Gantz’s decision-making process.”
History was made Sunday in an over-crowded, bare-walled room in Jerusalem’s district court building. A defendant, facing charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, took his seat and acknowledged, in front of the three-judge panel and the entire State of Israel, that he had read the charges and fully understood them.
What are the chances of this dramatic step actually taking place? Is this an inevitable result of the new government formed or yet another election-promise bound to be discarded as campaign rhetoric makes way to reality?
It all depends on four key players, their motivation, and their ability to influence the course of events.
On Tuesday, members of the Conference of Presidents will vote on the approval of Dianne Lob as the next chairwoman of the organization, a two-year position that would make her the group’s top lay leader. Initially, she was supposed to take office immediately upon approval, but a last-minute change will make Lob chair-elect for the next year, after which she will assume the chairmanship—more on that later.
