An NIF Zoom event discussing the recent war in Gaza and the United States’ position in the region moving forward.

Speakers

Peter Beinart, Professor of Journalism and Political Science at the City University of New York, Editor-at-Large of Jewish Currents, a CNN Political Commentator, a frequent contributor to The New York Times, and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace, Writes the Beinart Notebook newsletter on Substack.Com.

Diana Buttu, Palestinian-Canadian lawyer and analyst based in Haifa, Former legal advisor to PLO and Palestinian negotiators, Part of the team that assisted in the successful litigation of Israel’s separation wall before the International Court of Justice at the Hague in 2004, Maintains a law practice in Palestine focusing on international human rights law.

Ambassador Edward M. Gabriel, Former U.S. Ambassador to Morocco (1997-2001), President and CEO of the American Task Force on Lebanon, and a member of the boards of AMIDEAST, the Arab American National Museum, the Arab American Institute, and The Keystone Center.

Congressman Jim Moran, Former U.S. Representative for VA-08 Congressional District (1991-2015), Former Mayor of Alexandria, Virginia (1985-1991), Served on the Appropriations, Foreign Affairs, Banking, Housing and Finance, and Government Reform and Oversight committees during his 12 terms in U.S. Congress.

Moderator

Kelley Beaucar Vlahos, Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, Editorial Director of Responsible Statecraft and Senior Adviser at the Quincy Institute, formerly Executive Editor of the American Conservative Magazine, social media director and online editor at WTOP News (2013-2017), and worked for 15 years as an online political reporter for Fox News.

About our Speakers: 

Peter Beinart is Professor of Journalism and Political Science at the City University of New York. He is also Editor-at-Large of Jewish Currents, a CNN Political Commentator, a frequent contributor to The New York Times, and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace. He writes the Beinart Notebook newsletter on Substack.Com. His first book, The Good Fight, was published by HarperCollins in 2006. His second book, The Icarus Syndrome, was published by HarperCollins in 2010. His third, The Crisis of Zionism, was published by Times Books in 2012. Beinart has written for the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, the Boston Globe, the Atlantic, Newsweek, Slate, Reader’s Digest, Die Zeit, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and Polity: the Journal of the Northeastern Political Science Studies Association. The Week magazine named him columnist of the year for 2004. In 2005, he gave the Theodore H. White lecture at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He has appeared on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” “Charlie Rose,” “Meet the Press,” “The Colbert Report” and many other television programs. Beinart graduated from Yale University, winning a Rhodes scholarship for graduate study at Oxford University. After graduating from University College, Oxford, Beinart became The New Republic’s managing editor in 1995. He became senior editor in 1997, and from 1999 to 2006 served as the magazine’s Editor.

Diana Buttu is a Palestinian-Canadian lawyer who previously served as a legal advisor to the Palestinian negotiating team and was part of the team that assisted in the successful litigation of Israel’s separation wall before the International Court of Justice at the Hague in 2004, which resulted in the indictment of the wall. She frequently comments on Palestine for international news media outlets such as CNN and BBC; is a political analyst for Al Jazeera International and is a regular contributor to The Middle East magazine. She maintains a law practice in Palestine, focusing on international human rights law. Earlier in her career, Buttu worked on the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, serving as the only female negotiator during her five-year tenure. She was a fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and at Harvard Law School. She also held a fellowship at the Stanford Center for Conflict Resolution and Negotiation and is an instructor at Harvard Extension School. Buttu received her undergraduate degree from the University of Toronto, a JD from Queen’s University in Canada, an LLM from the University of Toronto, a JSM from Stanford University, and an executive MBA from Kellogg Northwestern School of Management.

Ambassador Edward M. Gabriel is the former U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Morocco, having served from November 1997 to March 2001, during which time a new U.S.-Morocco strategic relationship was launched on political, military and economic levels. He has an extensive background in international affairs, having convened multilateral policy forums involving national security, environmental, and trade and energy issues. He has been involved in matters of Russian and European nuclear non-proliferation and has been active in advising the U.S. government on Mideast policy matters. Currently, Ambassador Gabriel is President and CEO of The Gabriel Company, LLC, which advises American corporations and international entities on investment and policy strategies and projects. He is the President and CEO of the American Task Force on Lebanon, Co-Chairman of the American Schools of Tangier and Marrakech, Chairman of the Moroccan American Center, and a member of the boards of AMIDEAST, the Arab American National Museum, the Arab American Institute, and The Keystone Center.

Congressman Jim Moran represented Virginia’s 8th Congressional District from 1991 to 2015, where he was known for his bipartisan leadership and ability to resolve complex issues. He served on the Appropriations, Foreign Affairs, Banking, Housing and Finance, and Government Reform and Oversight committees during his 12 terms in the U.S. Congress. As a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, he was chairman and ranking member of the Subcommittee on the Interior and Environment, a senior member on the Defense and Military Construction subcommittees, Foreign Operations, Labor, Health and Human Services and Ranking Member of the D.C. and Legislative Branch subcommittees. He also served as a member of the Steering and Policy Committee of the House Democratic Leadership. As chairman of the Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, Jim oversaw the budgets for the Environmental Protection Agency, the Interior Department, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Forest Service, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the Smithsonian, the Kennedy Center, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the National Endowment for the Arts and the Humanities. As a senior member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, he oversaw all aspects of the defense budget, including weapons procurement, cybersecurity, research and development, military medical research, military base closures, civilian personnel, and overseas contingency operations.

About our Moderator: 

Kelley Beaucar Vlahos is the Editorial Director of Responsible Statecraft and Senior Advisor at the Quincy Institute. Previously, she served for three years as Executive Editor of the The American Conservative magazine, where she had been reporting and publishing regular articles on national security, civil liberties, foreign policy, veterans, and Washington politics since 2007. From 2013 to 2017, Vlahos served as director of social media and online editor at WTOP News in Washington, D.C. She also spent 15 years as an online political reporter for Fox News at the channel’s Washington D.C. bureau, as well as Washington correspondent for Homeland Security Today magazine.

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Note: additional speakers may be announced later.