Experts address key Mideast issues on closing day of conference

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | May 2, 2012
Press Contact: 202.230.9550, press@washingtoninstitute.org

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Denis McDonough, deputy national security advisor and key foreign policy aide to President Obama, will deliver keynote remarks at the close of The Washington Institute's Weinberg Founders Conference, "Navigating the New 'New Middle East:' Challenges to U.S. Policy, 2012." This event will be held at the Lansdowne Resort and Conference Center in Leesburg, Virginia on Sunday, May 6, at 10:30 a.m.

Mr. McDonough's address will follow a panel discussion on the U.S.-Israel strategic relationship, featuring Ambassador Dennis Ross, the just-retired National Security Council senior director for the Central Region; Ambassador Robert Blackwill, deputy national security advisor in the Bush administration; and General Amos Yadlin (IDF, ret.), former head of Israeli defense intelligence. Starting at 8:45 a.m., this panel will examine how Washington and Jerusalem grapple with critical issues on their common agenda, from the Iran nuclear challenge to the potential for change in Syria to differences over the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

To attend the Sunday program of this conference, please register with Media Relations Associate Brittany Parker at 202.230.9550, press@washingtoninstitute.org by 12 noon, Friday, May 4. There will be no admittance without prior confirmed registration.

Follow the speech live on Twitter @WashInstitute #NewMidEast.

About the Washington Institute: The Washington Institute for Near East Policy seeks to advance a balanced and realistic understanding of American interests in the Middle East and to promote the policies that secure them.