Americans for Peace Now hosted a webinar with veteran diplomat and US-Israel relations scholar, Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer, to discuss possible ways for the Biden administration to respond to Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government of extremists.

Netanyahu’s Likud is on the verge of signing a coalition agreement with a collection of ultra-nationalist and ultra-Orthodox parties. These parties’ policies, their leaders’ views, and some clauses in the coalition agreements contradict US policies, interests, and values. Daniel Kurtzer, America’s former ambassador to Israel, a veteran diplomat, and a professor specializing in Middle Eastern affairs, is the co-author, together with Aaron David Mille, of a recent Washington Post article headlined: “Biden should respond boldly to a radical Netanyahu government.” 

Daniel C. Kurtzer is the former US ambassador to Israel and Egypt. He is the former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Research at the Department of State. Ambassador Kurtzer spent much of his 29-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service helping navigate the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and has authored several books and numerous articles about the topic and about US-Israel relations. He is currently the S. Daniel Abraham Professor of Middle East Policy Studies at Princeton University.