German and U.S. Relations with Israel amid Escalating Conflict in the Middle East

Welcome:
Eric Langenbacher, Teaching Professor and Director of the Senior Honors Program, Government Department, Georgetown University

Panelists:
Ambassador Christoph Heusgen, Chairman, Munich Security Conference
Aaron David Miller, Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Moderator:
Jeff Rathke, President, AGI

The October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s exercise of its right to self-defense have highlighted the role of Israel’s regional and international relations, especially with the United States and Germany, two of Israel’s most important and longstanding partners. Washington and Berlin have played a crucial role supporting Israel’s defense against threats, directly from Iran and also from its proxies, such as Hamas and Hezbollah. Simultaneously, both the United States and Germany have called for Israel and Hamas to agree on a ceasefire and the return of hostages held in Gaza while emphasizing diplomatic efforts to prevent the conflicts from escalating. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock have invested extraordinary diplomatic efforts in Israel and across the region over the past year.

There is a striking commonality in how Germany and the United States have recommitted themselves to their unshakeable support for Israel’s security while trying to contain the conflicts. How have Berlin and Washington struck this balance and how might this affect their relations with Israel and in the region in the future, especially as the Iranian escalation through direct attack on Israel? The American-German Institute at Johns Hopkins University and the Georgetown University Department of Government are pleased to host this discussion with Ambassador Christoph Heusgen, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, and Aaron David Miller, Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Thursday, October 31. They will discuss the key issues facing Germany and the United States in their commitments to and relations with Israel, advancing regional normalization, supporting a two-state solution, and addressing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza amidst the increasingly complex regional situation.

Ambassador Christoph Heusgen has been Chairman of the Munich Security Conference since 2022. He also teaches Political Science at the University of Saint Gallen. He was the German Permanent Representative to the United Nations 2017-2021, and the Foreign Policy Advisor to Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2005 to 2017. He graduated from the University of Saint Gallen, studied at Georgia Southern College in the United States and at the Sorbonne, Paris.

Aaron David Miller is Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. From 1978-2003 he served at the State Department as an historian, analyst, negotiator, and advisor to both Republican and Democratic Secretaries of State working on U.S. policy with the Middle East and on the Arab-Israel peace process including as senior advisor for Arab-Israeli negotiations. Outside the government Miller served as president of Seeds of Peace, empowering young leadership in regions of conflict. From 2006-2019 he was a public policy scholar and director of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. His five books include The End of Greatness (2014) and The Much Too Promised Land (2008). Miller received his PhD from the University of Michigan.

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This event is presented in partnership with the Government Department at Georgetown University.