Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will speak to the forum by video.
By GIL HOFFMAN, JPOST.COM STAFFUpdated: DECEMBER 1, 2017 17:58Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets Jared Kushner in Israel(photo credit: GOVERNMENT PRESS OFFICE)
Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, will speak on Sunday at the Saban Forum in Washington, DC.The Saban Forum is a US-Israeli dialogue, hosted by the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy organization.Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, Minister for Regional Cooperation Tzachi Hanegbi, Labor leader Avi Gabbay, Meretz head Zehava Gal-On, former prime minister Ehud Barak and former IDF chief of staff Lt.-Gen. (res.) Gabi Ashkenazi will also be speaking at the forum, which is now in its 14th year and is entitled “‘America First’ and the Middle East.”“With so much upheaval in the Middle East and the Trump administration preparing to launch its peace initiative, the Saban Forum could not be more timely and critical,” Brookings executive vice president Martin Indyk said.“For 14 years, the Saban Forum has continued to serve as a unique venue for candid exchanges that can generate new ideas and constructive engagements about US-Israel relations and Middle East strategic issues.”Senior representatives of all three branches of the US government will participate, including Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer; Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Tom Cotton and Chris Coons; and senior officials from the executive branch.Among senior international participants are US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization General Delegation to the United States Husam Zomlot, ambassadors and other diplomats.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will speak to the forum by video.“Leaders around the world are still struggling to understand what ‘America First’ means to them, and with the focus the Trump administration has put on the prospect of Middle East peace, the Forum will once again serve as a bedrock for mutual understanding between the United States and Israel, and for leaders throughout the region,” said Haim Saban, a Brookings trustee and chairman of the Saban Forum. “The Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings has convened an illustrious and thoughtful group of people intent on focusing on what is important to our countries, not on the latest tweet.”The forum’s sessions will focus on the rise of new regional and global powers in the Middle East, new partnerships of interests, such as between Saudi Arabia and Israel, and on the effect of all these on the US-Israel relationship.
Other issues will include the prospects for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, the changing landscape of the media and disinformation around the world and the influence of institutions such as the judiciary and the military on future prospects for peace.
