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Michael Rubin to speak about Trump and Israel

|Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute|Israeli flag in strong wind

Last updated February 8, 2017

By News administrator

American Enterprise Institute (AEI) scholar Michael Rubin will speak about the Trump presidency’s impact on the Israel-Palestine conflict Tuesday, Feb. 21 at 7:15 p.m. in Hartness Pavilion (connected to Daniel Dining Hall) on the Furman University campus.

Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute

His talk, “Make Israel Unstable Again? How the Trump Presidency will Affect the Israel-Palestine Conflict,” is free and open to the public and is made possible by the AEI Executive Council at Furman.

Rubin will discuss how the change of power in the White House will impact United States foreign policy in the Israel-Palestine region. A brewing friendship between Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump, a United States ambassador appointment who strongly supports Israeli settlements, and rumored plans by Trump to move the United States Embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem—all point to imminent radical change.

A former Pentagon official, Rubin is a lecturer at the Naval Postgraduate School. He teaches regional politics to senior military officers who are deployed to the Middle East and Afghanistan.  He also teaches classes about Iran, Arab politics, and acts of terrorism perpetrated on board United States aircraft.

Having lived in post-revolution Iran, Yemen, pre- and post-war Iraq, and having spent time observing the Taliban before 9/11, Rubin brings a breadth of firsthand experience to the discussion. He has also previously served as a fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations and the Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Arguing that Jewish heritage has often been rejected by the international community, Rubin has advocated for stability in Israel and a heightened need for strong diplomacy.

His newest book Dancing with the Devil: The Perils of Engaging with Rogue Regimes examines and critiques 50 years of American foreign policy with terrorist groups and rogue nation-states.

The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) is a nonpartisan think tank and research group in Washington, D.C., where Rubin is a research fellow and scholar studying the Middle East, Turkey, Iran and diplomatic trends in the region.

For more information, contact Furman senior and event organizer John Bleed, john.bleed@furman.edu.

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