RUMSON – Congregation B’nai Israel of Rumson will present a lecture by Ashim Naim, former Ambassador of Israel to Ethiopia, Korea and Finland, on Sunday, February 26, 2012. Naim will be speaking about the Middle East conflict and the impact of the Arab Spring. Free and open to the public, the lecture will begin at 12 noon. Anyone interested in current events in the Middle East should plan to attend.
Naim has a unique perspective on the events in the Middle East having immigrated to Israel from Libya in 1944. In Israel, he fought in the War of Independence, and received a Master of Jurisprudence degree from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is a veteran of Israel’s Foreign Service having served for some 40 years in embassies in Tokyo, Kenya, Uganda, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Finland, Ethiopia and Korea.
Naim will discuss the background of the Arab revolts starting with Tunis and Egypt. He will explain the struggle for change and control in the Middle East, the roles of Islamists and Nationalists and extremists and moderates. He will talk about the various players including Hezbollah, Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda and the implications for Israel. He will also discuss how Iran affects the stability of the region and the world. Lastly, he will speak about whether the policies of Israel and the United States for peace in the Middle East can be resolved.
After retiring from the Israeli Foreign Service in 1995, Naim has continued to work on behalf of the Ethiopian community, helping them with absorption and integration into Israeli society. He also chairs the Israel-Korea Friendship Association, which works toward closer relations between the two countries in the field of education and the promotion of economic ties, and is a Fellow at the Abba Eban Center for Diplomacy, Truman Institute for Peace, Hebrew University, in Jerusalem. Naim has co-authored two books on Jewish education and a book on Jerusalem. He and his wife, Hilda, have three children and reside in Jerusalem.
Congregation B’nai Israel is located at the corners of Hance and Ridge Roads in Rumson, New Jersey. Serving the Jewish community for almost 90 years, the synagogue serves as a spiritual home for some 400 families as well as providing religious education for preschoolers to adults and hosting social and civic functions for the Jewish community. For more information about this lecture or Congregation B’nai Israel, contact Helene Messer, Administrator, at helene.messer@cbirumson.org.
