Thread by @AJCongress

The American Jewish Congress released a statement on May 8, 2023 on Bashar Al Assad rejoining the Arab League. This is a good time to recall why this is not a good idea after #Assad attended an Arab Summit in #SaudiArabia over the weekend. Read this #thread⬇️/1

@JackRosenNYC

The #AmericanJewishCongress is alarmed that efforts are underway to rehabilitate #BasharAssad. Before any normalization, Assad needs to talk to the opposition, eliminate #Iran presence in #Syria, and initiate a political transition in accordance with UNSCR 2254. /2

Sharing our concerns about rehabilitating #BasharAlAssad is more than half of Syria’s population displaced by #Assad’s actions over the past decade, says @JackRosenNYC, President of #AmericanJewishCongress. /3

Neighbors face multiple threats emanating from #Syria. Under #Assad, Syria is exporter of illicit narcotics into #Gulf states, providing cover to a trade linked to #Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards. That's how #IRGC’s primary terror proxy #Hezbollah is funded. @JackRosenNYC/4

#US-brokered peace talks with #Assad in the 1990s and 2000s have shown the #Syrian regime’s inability to end #Iran's malign activity or initiate political reform. - @JackRosenNYC /5

“We urge our partners not to continue down this path of normalization,” said a May 3 statement jointly released by @RepMcCaul Chairman of the Chair of House Foreign Affairs Committee of #US Congress & @RepJoeWilson Chairman of the Subcommittee on MENA+CA. /6

Both @RepMcCaul & @RepJoeWilson listened last month to an anonymous Syrian man – known simply as “The Gravedigger”– who testified from Europe via the Internet before a #US congressional hearing. He urged committee members to support strengthening sanctions agst #Assad regime /7

and the application of pressure as a deterrent for states working to rehabilitate him. “Rehabilitating an unrepentant war criminal,” said @RepMcCaul & @RepJoeWilson “ensures the regime will continue to bomb Syrians, undermine stability & let #Russia+#Iran run rampant in #Syria”/8

#UNSC Resolution 2254, unanimously adopted in 2015, mandates #UN-facilitated talks between the #Syria regime and opposition members, with a nationwide ceasefire to begin as soon as the parties take initial steps towards a political transition. /9

Some of America’s allies in the region, like #Jordan #KSA #UAE #Egypt believe engaging #Assad could help wean him off #Iran and #Hezbollah and kick off a political transition, and that they should take a lead in achieving this end. But this argument is easily countered by .. /10

the experience of #US diplomacy promoting #Israel-#Syria peace between 1991 and 1996, and again in 2010-2011. During those talks, #Assad failed to muster the political will to make a clean break from #Iran, end overland #Hezbollah supply routes, & initiate political reforms. /11

Key American partner #SaudiArabia made ending the presence of foreign militias in #Syria and the start of a political process part of the official statement after the #Jeddah meeting. But #Assad shows no sign he intends to allow such a process. @JackRosenNYC /12

#Assad's reentry into the #ArabLeagueSummit will be seen as victory for an isolated regime in #Syria and could intensify #Iran's meddling. - @JackRosenNYC #AmericanJewishCongress /13

The #AmericanJewishCongress echoes the McCaul-Wilson call @RepMcCaul/@RepJoeWilson for #US partners in the region to cease normalization with #Assad. We urge raising pressure on the regime to initiate steps for a political transition in accordance w/ UNSCR 2254. @JackRosenNYC /14

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