Conversation with Rep. Jimmy Panetta
Amid Israel’s operations against Iran, Congressman Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) traveled to the Middle East as part of a bipartisan delegation focused on expanding the Abraham Accords. A key member of the Congressional Abraham Accords Caucus and vocal advocate for the strategic importance of the accords, Panetta visited Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. He said Arab leaders echoed a singular message: “what we heard consistently is, none of them want a nuclear-armed Iran.”
Since his return home, the United States has conducted major air strikes against Iran’s three main nuclear facilities, setting Iran’s nuclear program back significantly. As a result, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran’s weakened state may lead to “extraordinary opportunities” for Israel in the diplomatic arena. This prospect was made even likelier by President Trump’s announcement on June 23 of a ceasefire between an ascendant Israel and a weakened Iran.
JINSA hosted an exclusive conversation with Congressman Panetta to discuss his first-hand insights on a rapidly changing Middle East and what the United States and our regional partners can do to ensure Iran’s nuclear program is fully dismantled.
JINSA President and CEO Michael Makovsky, PhD, moderated the conversation.
Rep. Jimmy Panetta United States Representative Jimmy Panetta proudly serves California’s 19th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. His diverse and beautiful district stretches from south San Jose in Santa Clara County, over the hills into Santa Cruz County, down the coastline of Monterey County, and into northern San Luis Obispo County. First elected in 2016, he is serving his fifth term in Congress. He currently serves on the House Committee on Ways and Means and House Committee on the Budget. He also serves as a Chief Deputy Whip in the 119th Congress. |
Michael Makovsky, PhD Michael Makovsky since 2013 has been President and CEO of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), a leading Washington, D.C.-based policy and educational organization focused on U.S. defense and national security issues in the Middle East. Makovsky has worked extensively on U.S.-Israel defense ties, U.S. policy toward Iran, Syria, Iraq, Gaza, the Persian Gulf, the role of energy in U.S. national security policy, and the Eastern Mediterranean. He is also author of Churchill’s Promised Land (Yale University Press), a diplomatic-intellectual history of Winston Churchill’s complex relationship with Zionism. |