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Symposium

The Future of U.S.-Israel Relations Symposium

Israel Symposium Cover Photo

Event date



From Middle East Program.

SESSION I: Israel’s Shifting Political Landscape and National Security

This session will focus on implications of the changes in the Middle East for Israel’s national security and internal politics.

Speakers

  • Assaf Orion
    Senior Research Fellow, Institute for National Security Studies
  • Dana Weiss
    Political Correspondent, Channel 2 News
  • Tamara Cofman Wittes
    Senior Fellow, Center for Middle East Policy, Brookings Institution

Presider

  • Martin S. Indyk
    Distinguished Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations; Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel; @Martin_Indyk

Introductory Remarks

  • Richard Haass
    President, Council on Foreign Relations; @RichardHaass
  • Frank Lowy
    Chairman, Institute for National Security Studies; Member, Global Board of Advisors, Council on Foreign Relations

Transcript

HAASS: Well, good afternoon, and welcome to the Council on Foreign Relations and to today’s symposium on the future of U.S.-Israel relations, co-hosted with the Institute for National Security Studies, INSS.

I’m Richard Haass. I’m president of the Council. Thank you also for braving the elements, and what I wanted to do before I introduce the agenda is say a few words about three people without whom we would not be meeting today.

The first, who will speak after me, Sir Frank Lowy, whose contributions to the policy world are many. He’s the chairman not just of one but of two important policy institutions—the aforementioned INSS in Israel, partnering with us in this event, as well as the institute that bears his name in Sydney, and he’s also a member of the global board of advisors here.

So I want to publicly thank him for what he’s done in supporting important institutions, doing important influential research in three countries, and all three are better for it. So thank you, sir. (Applause.)

I also want to thank General Amos Yadlin, who’s director—where did he go? Where did he go? There you are. Of the INSS. He joined there nearly a decade...

SESSION II: The New Great Game in the Middle East

This panel will focus on potential changes in the Middle East, with an emphasis on the U.S. withdrawal from the region and the growing dominance of Russia and Iran.

Speakers

  • Richard Haass
    President, Council on Foreign Relations; @RichardHaass
  • Amos Yadlin
    Executive Director, Institute for National Security Studies

Presider

  • Michèle A. Flournoy
    Cofounder and Managing Partner, WestExec Advisors; Former U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy

Transcript

FLOURNOY: Well, welcome back to the second session of the CFR-INSS Symposium on the Future of U.S.-Israel Relations. We’re now going to pull back and look at the larger region. This session is entitled “The New Great Game in the Middle East.” I’m Michèle Flournoy, now co-founder and managing partner of WestExec Advisors, a strategy advisory firm in Washington.

And these two gentlemen need no introduction. We have Richard Haass, the head of this illustrious institution, former senior official in the Bush administration; and Amos Yadlin, head of INSS, and as we heard before, had an illustrious career in the IDF, finishing up as chief of intelligence in Israel.

So, as you know, this is on the record. And we’re going to start with a conversation up here, and then about half hour, 40 minutes from now, we will come to you as the audience. So please be thinking about the questions that you as members would like to ask the panel.

So we heard last panel mention of the fact that there are leaders throughout the region that perceive U.S. pulling back, a U.S. withdrawal from the Middle East.

Richard, if we start with you, what has contributed to...