Maher Bitar (c) with his wife, daughter, and former boss, Sept. 21, 2015.
President Joe Biden on Friday appointed Palestinian-American attorney Maher al-Bitar, who served on President Barack Obama’s National Security Council as Director for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs and as deputy to Samantha Power, to be the new director of the NSC intelligence service. Politico, which broke the news, described Al-Bitar’s new job as “the day-to-day connective tissue between the intelligence community and the White House.”
A graduate of Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, al-Bitar received a Master of Science in Forced Migration from Oxford University’s Refugee Studies Center on a Marshall scholarship and has worked with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Jerusalem.
proximity, but certainly not close enough to threaten the airport. the israeli government is very sensitive. one of their function mechanisms economically is tourism. they can t afford to have the airport shut down. they are very hypersensitive to security of flights coming in and out. if there was any real threat, they would be the first ones to issue that threat assessment and let carriers know that it wasn t safe to fly in or out. i m going to bring in a senior fellow on the american task force on palestine. thanks so much for is being with us. obviously, one of the arguments you hear from israel, the israeli government repeatedly is they are under taking this action in gaza because they have to protect themselves. that these rockets are raining down all over israel now, some 2,000 plus at this point. does the fact that some of them have fallen near or around the airport make that case for them? no, i don t think so. because two things. it doesn t change the history of
that takes our eyes off the real objective and a peace that gets the palestinians their state. hamas reached what many would call the height of its political power in 2006 when it won 76 of 132 seats six years later. fatah claimed the victory. today, the legitimacy is a matter of intense debate under palestinians and arab states alike. joining me now is president and founder of the american task force on palestine. thanks for being with me tonight. thank you. we talked a lot in the news about the conflict between, certainly reported on that all day and this evening on msnbc. we want to talk to you about hamas standing here, specifically as this incursion
protesters are imprisoned, tear gassed and shot and killed by soldiers, away from the eyes of the u.s. cameras, we re creating the conditions in which terrorism, the great evil we have pledged ourselves to vanquish, brings strategic benefits, while the path of nonviolence leads to a dead end what a sorry legacy for everyone involved in helping this come to pass. i want to bring in congressman steve cohen, democrat of tennessee. ka treata. and a senior fellow at the american task force on palestine. which advocates for a two-state solution and heather hurlburt, former member of the clinton state department foreign policy planning team. now executive director of the national security network this is my take-away from the set of incentives that have been created in the region. hussein, i m curious, as someone who is a very outspoken advocate for two-state solution, if this is how you see things as well.
negotiate with the israelis in order to achieve general peace. shannon: keeping it fair and balanced. here is the palestinian perspective, from the american task force on palestine and fiving you a chance to respond to the remark is. thanks for joining us. the president did submit an application for u.n. membership but said repetedly before during and after the submission that he agrees that the peace negotiations are the only way to achieve a final solution and creation of a palestinian state but he wants moreau k more rec. they made the application but parked it with the security council. they are not demanding a vote or forcing the u.s. to cast a veto or even see if there is a maij ilt of it. the fact there they he issued a steament on flid places us back in the existing international process. israeli prime minister netanyahu called, president