Empowering others as Director @palinternship Mentorship Prgm 4 Entrepreneurs & saving the planet @BountifulWork. Fmr @StateDept Diplomat (Retweet ≠ endorsement)
May 12, 2021 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
USA largely absent during recent violence in Israel/Palestine. Where is🇺🇸?
Great to hear that @HadyAmr is traveling to region ASAP.
However - this also highlights how under-resourced the U.S. Nat’l security apparatus is in this domain right now @ senior levels.
A short 🧵1/5
2/5 During the last major round of 2014 violence, we had a US Ambassador to Israel @DanielBShapiro - an empowered diplomat with deep credibility, strong networks & direct connections w/top Israeli leaders. This ensured USA knew what was going on @ highest levels. Today: No US Amb
May 11, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Arabs? Arab Israelis? Palestinian Citizens of Israel?
Is it all of the above, or none? ASK.
Every citizen/resident of Israel has a deep & complex personal narrative.
When stability and calm returns (& please God I hope soon) this MUST become part of the conversation.
Watching places of worship burn inside the holy land is doubly nauseating. These criminal acts of the few DO NOT represent the many.
It will take courageous leaders to navigate these conversations.
Who?
May 11, 2021 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
I may be alone on this - but it was literally *my job* to try and understand what is currently happening in Gaza and Israel, I'm confused with how quickly the situation escalated - and, now that we're here, how quickly it might de-escalate (I worry, not quickly) 🧵 1/x
2/x: as I said Thursday during a lecture in Chicago: there are many parallels to summer 2014. Various themes surrounding justice, security and dignity - some justified and some unjustified, that eventually led to heartless clashes, injuries, and deaths.
Mar 4, 2021 • 11 tweets • 3 min read
It was exactly two years ago that former Secretary of State Pompeo closed the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem, after its independent operations in various forms for 175 years ... of course they didn't call it a closure but rather a 'merger'... il.usembassy.gov/merger-of-u-s-…
Let's be honest: it was a hostile takeover 😂. Were stated objectives of 'increased efficiency'' achieved? Of course not. It was a complete joke - but a genius bureaucratic move to (try as hard as possible) to disempower U.S. diplomats focused on the U.S.-Palestinian file
