June 13, 2022 — New York, NY
At AJC Global Forum 2022, day two opening plenary began with an introduction from Abby Elbaum, AJC National Leadership Council Diplomats society, followed by a special address from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
After, a timely discussion from several experts “Democracy vs. Tyranny: The World at a Crossroads” featuring Walter Russell Mead, the Ravenel B. Curry III Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship at the Hudson Institute, and a regular columnist for the Wall Street Journal; Richard Haass serves as President of the Council on Foreign Relations, and has served in multiple U.S. administrations as a top foreign policy specialist; and Constanze Stelzenmüller is the Fritz Stern Chair on Germany and Transatlantic Relations at Brookings Institution She is an expert on German, European, and trans-Atlantic foreign and security policy and strategy.
The discussion was followed by, Lisa Pruzan, a member of AJC’s National Board of Governors and AJC’s Women’s Leadership Board, who presented the AJC Moral Courage Award to Masih Alinejad, an Iranian activist who has dedicated her life to exposing the abuses of the Iranian regime, risking her life in the process to shed light on those human rights abuses and advocate for the Iranian women who are fighting bravely for a better future. AJC honored Alinejad for her “moral, intellectual, and physical courage, extraordinary bravery, and commitment to the protection of human rights.”
Afterwards, AJC Project Interchange Alumni Sheikh Abdulla Alkhalifa, and Lilia Rizk share their experiences as some of the first Arab participants on AJC's Project Interchange trips to Israel.
Next was a historic conversation with Ambassadors from the Abraham Accords countries, including H.E. Ambassador Gilad Erdan, Israeli Ambassdor to the UN, H.E. Jamal Fares Alrowaiei, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the UN, H.E. Omar Hilale, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco to the UN amd H.E. Lana Nusseibeh, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the UN. Moderated by Jason Isaacson, AJC Chief Policy and Political Affairs Officer. Nearly two years after the groundbreaking Abraham Accords, the session showcased the widening circle of peace in the Middle East.
In a wrap up of the Day Two plenary, Israel’s Alternate Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Yair Lapid describes the current global struggle between good and evil, with terrorism and violence on one side and freedom and democracy on the other. He also defines the common bonds shared by Jews throughout the world and reaffirms the Israeli government’s commitment to the Diaspora.
To watch more videos from AJC Global Forum 2022, go to www.ajc.org/GlobalForumNews
