Why Did the U.S. Exclude Israel from the New Counterterrorism Forum?

(Foreign Policy) - Josh Rogin - At Turkey's insistence, Israel was not invited to the June 7 meeting in Istanbul of the new Global Counterterrorism Forum. Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) wrote to Secretary of State Clinton on Monday to protest the Obama administration's decision to exclude Israel from the new forum. "As you know, there are few countries in the world that have suffered more from terrorism than Israel, and few governments that have more experience combating this threat than that of Israel," they wrote. "Obviously the U.S. is looking to adhere to the wishes of Turkey," said Jonathan Schanzer, vice president for research at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. "But since this is a U.S.-sponsored event, hosted in Turkey, the U.S. should not be listening to anybody about whom they should or should not invite."


2012-06-14 00:00:00

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