JINSA’s Foreign Relations

JINSA has been extraordinarily busy this spring.

1. The JINSA Flag and General Officers Trip to Israel took a detour this year for a private meeting with King Abdullah at his palace in Amman. The King, a former Special Operations officer in the Royal Jordanian Army, stressed his military background and interest in the mainly military JINSA group. During the one-hour meeting, he talked about Jordan as an intermediary between Israel and Syria, and the high level of intelligence sharing between Jordan and the U.S.

JINSA has been extraordinarily busy this spring.

1. The JINSA Flag and General Officers Trip to Israel took a detour this year for a private meeting with King Abdullah at his palace in Amman. The King, a former Special Operations officer in the Royal Jordanian Army, stressed his military background and interest in the mainly military JINSA group. During the one-hour meeting, he talked about Jordan as an intermediary between Israel and Syria, and the high level of intelligence sharing between Jordan and the U.S. Reflecting comments made to the group in Israel, the King noted cooperation between Israel and Jordan on intelligence matters, particularly terrorist infiltration and drug smuggling. On another subject, he said NATO action in Kosovo appeared to suffer from a lack of military and intelligence input, however, he added that if the United States is persistent in pursuit of its goals in Kosovo, it would send a serious message to would-be international troublemakers. JINSA has been invited to return to Jordan.

2. Bulgarian President Peter Stoyanov addressed a JINSA luncheon meeting during the recent NATO summit in Washington. Bulgaria hopes to be included in the next round of NATO expansion, and has opened its airspace to NATO for operations in Kosovo.

3. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Arens spoke to approximately 100 invited JINSA members and guests from the Pentagon and defense community following his meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Bill Cohen. Mr. Arens, a long-time friend of JINSA, used the opportunity to stress the importance of US-Israel cooperation on missile defenses and discussed Israel’s pending purchase of U.S. fighter planes.

4. JINSA Executive Director Tom Neumann and Advisory Board Member Phyllis Kaminsky were part of a small delegation of American Jewish leaders to meet with Turkish President Suleiman Demiril in Washington. The meeting encouraged enhanced strategic cooperation between Turkey, Israel and the U.S., and included discussions on issues of common concern. The Turkish elections were the subject of two separate JINSA meetings early in May. The Ari Movement, a young political leadership movement in Turkey, met with the JINSA professional staff. Following that, Aydan Kodaluglu, President of the Turkish American Association, met with 25 JINSA members and guests to discuss the implications of the elections.

5. JINSA Board Members met with Ambassador Safiq Safayev of the Republic of Uzbekistan at the Uzbek Embassy in Washington. Ambassador Safayev, a former economist, discussed economic and political changes in Uzbekistan since its independence from the former Soviet Union. He stressed his interest in continuing good relations with Israel – Israel was the first country to extend diplomatic recognition to Uzbekistan – and pursuing a pro-Western foreign policy. JINSA has been invited to take a delegation to Uzbekistan in the fall.