Event

A Conversation with Ambassador Daniel B. Shapiro

January 23, 2018
12:00 pm -

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Event Description

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies hosted a lunch conversation on Tuesday, January 23, 2018, from 12:00pm to 1:30pm, featuring Ambassador Daniel B. Shapiro, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, in conversation with FDD’s Senior Vice President Jonathan Schanzer.

Ambassador Dan Shapiro served as U.S. Ambassador to Israel until January 20, 2017, and in the year since, U.S. policy in the Middle East has shifted drastically. Amb. Shapiro will reflect on his tenure as Ambassador and weigh in on wide range of issues, including Iran’s regional activities, the Iran nuclear deal, the U.S. response to the recent protests (see his recent Politico op-ed with FDD’s Mark Dubowitz), the ongoing bloodshed in Syria, the plan to move the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and the Trump Administration’s efforts to reform the United Nations.

Amb. Daniel B. Shapiro was named Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Tel Aviv University’s Institute of National Security Studies in March 2017, following a diverse career of over 20 years in senior foreign policy and national security positions in the United States government. He was appointed by President Obama to be United States Ambassador to Israel, a position he held from July 2011 until the end of the Obama Administration.  He won praise from leaders of both countries for his deft management of the U.S.-Israel relationship during Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, the Iran nuclear agreement, regional instability, and periods of significant bilateral tension and disagreement.  Among his major contributions were negotiating the $38 billion Memorandum of Understanding for U.S. military aid to Israel, unprecedented public outreach in fluent Hebrew to Israel’s diverse communities, and 40 percent growth in U.S.-Israel trade. He previously served as Senior Director for the Middle East and North Africa on the National Security Council, in which he served as a member of Special Envoy George Mitchell’s team, led U.S. diplomatic efforts in Syria and Lebanon, and advised President Obama through the early months of the upheavals in Arab states in 2011.  He also served in numerous senior advisory positions in the U.S. Congress, including with Senator Bill Nelson of Florida and Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, and on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where he contributed to numerous Congressional efforts to support negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, to increase U.S. security assistance to Israel, and to strengthen sanctions and other measures against Syria, Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas.

Dr. Jonathan Schanzer is Senior Vice President for Research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He worked as a terrorism finance analyst at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he played an integral role in the designation of numerous terrorist financiers.  A former research fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Dr. Schanzer has published numerous books, including State of Failure: Yasser Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Unmaking of the Palestinian State and Hamas vs. Fatah: The Struggle for Palestine. Dr. Schanzer testifies often before Congress and publishes widely in the American and international media.

A Conversation with Ambassador Daniel B. Shapiro: Serving as U.S. Ambassador to Israel and the Year Since
Moderated by Dr. Jonathan Schanzer

Tuesday, January 23, 2018
12:00pm – 1:30pm

Amb. Daniel B. Shapiro was named Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Tel Aviv University’s Institute of National Security Studies in March 2017, following a diverse career of over 20 years in senior foreign policy and national security positions in the United States government. He was appointed by President Obama to be United States Ambassador to Israel, a position he held from July 2011 until the end of the Obama Administration.  He won praise from leaders of both countries for his deft management of the U.S.-Israel relationship during Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, the Iran nuclear agreement, regional instability, and periods of significant bilateral tension and disagreement.  Among his major contributions were negotiating the $38 billion Memorandum of Understanding for U.S. military aid to Israel, unprecedented public outreach in fluent Hebrew to Israel’s diverse communities, and 40 percent growth in U.S.-Israel trade. He previously served as Senior Director for the Middle East and North Africa on the National Security Council, in which he served as a member of Special Envoy George Mitchell’s team, led U.S. diplomatic efforts in Syria and Lebanon, and advised President Obama through the early months of the upheavals in Arab states in 2011.  He also served in numerous senior advisory positions in the U.S. Congress, including with Senator Bill Nelson of Florida and Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, and on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where he contributed to numerous Congressional efforts to support negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, to increase U.S. security assistance to Israel, and to strengthen sanctions and other measures against Syria, Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas.

Dr. Jonathan Schanzer is the Vice President for Research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He worked as a terrorism finance analyst at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he played an integral role in the designation of numerous terrorist financiers.  A former research fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Dr. Schanzer has published numerous books, including State of Failure: Yasser Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Unmaking of the Palestinian State and Hamas vs. Fatah: The Struggle for Palestine. Dr. Schanzer testifies often before Congress and publishes widely in the American and international media.

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Issues:

International Organizations Iran Iran Nuclear Syria