(Photo By: Courtesy)
By: Raphael Ahren - September 21, 2020
More than a dozen senior communication professionals, journalists and academics from the Arab world, including countries with no formal ties to Israel, on Monday took part in an unprecedented online forum to discuss with Israeli journalists and several senior government officials the role of the media in forging peace in the Middle East.
Participants hailed not only from Israel’s new peace partners — the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain — but also from Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Algeria, where any action seen as “normalizing” ties with the Jewish state is still considered a crime.
“This is a historic conversation,” Israel’s Regional Cooperation Minister Ofir Akunis said early in the webinar. “Just like last week’s signing of the peace agreement with the UAE and Bahrain was historic, this meeting is historic. It’s joyous, momentous occasion.”
Read More: Times of Israel