Stressing a \u201cwait and see\u201d approach, Rabbi Elie Abadie weighs in on the political situation in Gaza and Syria, while urging regime change in Iran <\/p>\n
A Syria that looks and functions more like the UAE would make a return of Syrian Jews conceivable, Rabbi Dr. Elie Abadie told The Media Line. But is this likely? \u201cNot really, I don\u2019t think so.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a wide-ranging interview, Rabbi Elie Abadie, who was born in Lebanon and is the senior rabbi emeritus of the United Arab Emirates and the Gulf states, reflects on the current state of affairs with The Media Line\u2019s Felice Friedson. He warns that recent moves on Iran amount to a reprieve rather than a lasting solution and says that hopes for a new Syrian Republic to which Syrian Jews could perhaps return one day, and a post-Hamas Gaza, remain, at best, \u201cwait and see\u201d bets.<\/p>\n
In his eyes, the Middle East\u2019s most dramatic recent moves may be little more than a pause before the next crisis, arguing that Syria\u2019s new rulers, Hamas in Gaza, and Iran\u2019s hard-line regime will not truly change course unless they are forced out of power.<\/p>\n
Abadie said he clearly saw \u201ca change, a change of regime,\u201d in Syria following Bashar Assad\u2019s fall, but questioned whether it would translate into a genuine shift in how the country is run. He wondered whether this was \u201cpolitics as usual in any Arab country, where one dictator falls and another one assumes power,\u201d noting that new strongmen often arrive as saviors of their people and eventually become the same tyrants and dictators that they had deposed years before.<\/p>\n
He described his own approach to Syria as \u201cwait and see,\u201d saying he had been invited to visit and even lead a group to the country, but chose to delay for \u201ca year or two\u201d to determine whether there would be \u201ca reawakening of a new Syria, a new Syrian Republic.\u201d Some early developments, he said, were \u201cencouraging,\u201d but he cited reports of \u201cmassacres that took place with the Druze and with other groups\u201d and public executions that raised serious doubts about real change.<\/p>\n
[The] \u2026 group of hooligans \u2026 We don\u2019t know\u2014do they represent the government or they don\u2019t represent the government<\/p>\n
Abadie voiced alarm at accounts of people being executed in the street by \u201csome group of hooligans,\u201d saying it remained unclear whether those groups were acting on behalf of the state. \u201cWe don\u2019t know\u2014do they represent the government or they don\u2019t represent the government,\u201d he said, adding that if they did not, \u201cthe government should reign on them and control them,\u201d and if they did, \u201cthen it\u2019s a big problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
This ambiguity over who holds power on the ground reinforced his view that the new order should be greeted with guarded optimism, not \u201cfull security that yes, we have a new regime and a new Syrian Republic.\u201d Watching developments \u201cfrom your home in the United States,\u201d he suggested, made it easier to see both the promise and the peril of the transition with some emotional distance.<\/p>\n
Asked about the growing number of American Jewish groups visiting Syria \u201cdespite some of the problems, even sometimes the security issues,\u201d Abadie said he knew several of the travelers personally and praised them. \u201cIt is wonderful that they had the courage to go there,\u201d he said, noting that most were people who left Syria \u201c30 years ago, 35 years ago\u201d and wanted to see their former homes and what remained of \u201cthe Syria of yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the same time, he warned of what he called an \u201copportunistic situation\u201d in which some might try \u201cto be there the first, they want to be there to represent the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abadie mentioned his concern that none of the people who traveled to Syria were official representatives of the Syrian Jewish community, saying, \u201cThey only represent themselves and whatever organization they have, if they have any,\u201d and raising questions about who, if anyone, can truly speak for Syrian Jewry today.<\/p>\n
Pressed on whether the near-vanished Jewish presence in Syria\u2014described in the interview as only six Jews still living there\u2014could one day be rebuilt, Abadie was blunt. \u201cThat would be a fantasy to tell you the truth,\u201d he said, arguing that the last generation to leave departed 30 to 35 years ago and their children, born abroad, had become \u201cfull Americans\u201d or citizens of Mexico, Panama, Brazil or Israel.<\/p>\n
He said some \u201celderly people\u201d might go back to claim their real estate or their property, but he did not foresee \u201ca full community\u201d reemerging for at least the next five to seven years, a delay that would only make such a revival more difficult and much less likely.<\/p>\n
Despite the demographic collapse of the Syrian Jewish community, Abadie insisted it remained \u201cvery important for the Jews of that country to keep in touch and to be the bridge to connect.\u201d That bridge, he said, should endure \u201cno matter if there is a Jewish community living there or not living there,\u201d suggesting that Syrian Jews in the diaspora can still link their ancestral homeland, Israel and the broader Jewish world.<\/p>\n
Abadie has long argued that Jews from Arab countries can play a unique bridging role, drawing on shared language, culture and history to foster understanding even where formal communities no longer exist. In the Syrian case, he indicated, that role may increasingly be exercised from abroad rather than from within the country\u2019s borders.<\/p>\n
On President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cvision and dream and hopes\u201d for normalized relations between Israel and Syria, Abadie said, \u201cthere is a reality, but the reality is not that close to what we hope it will be.\u201d He described the region as a \u201cchess game\u201d crowded with actors, including Turkey, which \u201cwants significantly great influence in that country,\u201d and Russia, which, despite giving a safe harbor to Bashar Assad, still seeks to influence Syria and to maintain military bases there.<\/p>\n
If Syria is smart, if the leadership of Syria wants to be part of the new Middle East that is growing and becoming, then they ought to know that the only way is through Israel and the United States<\/p>\n
He noted that \u201cthose two nations are not very favorable to Israel,\u201d and therefore might not advance the relationship between Israel and Syria. Nonetheless, he argued that \u201cif Syria is smart, if the leadership of Syria wants to be part of the new Middle East that is growing and becoming, then they ought to know that the only way is through Israel and the United States,\u201d even as he cautioned again, \u201cwait and see,\u201d and said, \u201cI am hopeful and I\u2019m optimistic, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to be as quick as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turning to Gaza and what was described as the \u201cpeace organization\u201d Trump is formulating, Abadie was unequivocal about Hamas. \u201cHamas definitely does not want to disarm,\u201d he said, adding that it also does not want to give up a leadership role, making him doubt that \u201cphase two\u201d of the plan would proceed, \u201cunless the United States and the Gulf Arab countries, excluding Qatar, will press on Hamas to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abadie contended that it is in the interest of most regional governments to curtail Hamas. \u201cI know that the Gulf countries, \u2026 including Egypt, Jordan, and many do not want to see Hamas in control, do not want to see Hamas armed,\u201d he said, but added that they are not pressing their position publicly, but perhaps only through quiet, behind-the-scenes diplomacy with Washington.<\/p>\n
From Abadie\u2019s perspective, most Arab governments \u201cknow Hamas is already the old world,\u201d view it as \u201ca terrorist organization,\u201d and understand that it \u201cwill always be a thorn in the peace process.\u201d In contrast, he said, \u201cyou have Turkey and Qatar, that want Hamas there because that\u2019s their influence,\u201d describing Ankara and Doha as supporters of Hamas \u201cfinancially, morally, and probably objectively also.\u201d<\/p>\n
This alignment, he said, created \u201can impasse as to the application of phase two.\u201d He pointed to the unresolved return of the final hostage as a formal barrier, saying, \u201cofficially, we\u2019re not on phase two until that cadaver is returned, that body is returned,\u201d and warning that even after that, \u201cHamas will not do it unless it is forced, and not just by diplomatic or political pressure, but probably by military pressure,\u201d especially while it feels it has backing from Turkey and Qatar.<\/p>\n
On Iran, Abadie asserted that \u201cthe victory against Iran has not taken place yet,\u201d despite recent military blows. He said that bombing nuclear facilities, degrading the air force and other installations, and targeting major military leadership and some political leadership merely \u201cdelays the eventuality that Iran needs to be completely vanquished.\u201d<\/p>\n
We\u2019re not on phase two until that cadaver is returned, that body is returned. Hamas will not do it unless it is forced, and not just by diplomatic or political pressure, but probably by military pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout a new regime in Iran, without a democratic regime in Iran,\u201d he warned, \u201cIran will continue to build up, will continue to try to make their nuclear arsenal viable, and will continue to be a nuisance and a thorn, and not just in Israel and the Arab world, but in Europe and the entire Western world.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu \u201chave come to that realization that they need to do something about that,\u201d but cautioned that \u201cwithout a change in regime in Iran, we haven\u2019t done much, we haven\u2019t done much,\u201d beyond \u201cbuying time for Iran to again rearm itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked directly what the point of phase one on Iran was, Abadie replied, \u201cI think it\u2019s just to buy time.\u201d He said that \u201caccording to calculations, Iran was merely a few weeks away from arming a nuclear missile,\u201d calling that prospect \u201ca tragedy,\u201d and positing that Trump understood that they needed to act immediately to hinder Iranian progress for perhaps a few months, or a year or two.<\/p>\n
Still, he stressed that this had not destroyed Iran\u2019s desire, capability, and progress towards a nuclear weapon. In his view, only a wholesale overhaul of Iran\u2019s leadership will work, and the country must replace Islamist rule not with a slightly softer version but with a genuinely democratic government seeking to restore the more Western-oriented character Iran had under the Shah.<\/p>\n
Asked why the United States and Israel did not appear to back mass protests in Iran that some believed could have toppled the regime, Abadie said Washington had had several opportunities for regime change, during the administration of President Barack Obama and later on. He pointed back to major waves of protests in Iran, saying demonstrators mounted a serious challenge to the authorities in Tehran, yet, in his view, President Obama openly declined to back them or pursue regime change, and that a similar stance was evident under President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not exactly sure what\u2019s the interest of the United States on not having a regime change,\u201d he said, though he referenced writings about \u201csome personal interest of some members of the government of Obama and Biden that they may have had with Iran, either business interests or other family interests.\u201d He added that he was \u201cnot exactly sure about that,\u201d marking the claim as speculative.<\/p>\n
Regarding the current Trump administration, Abadie said he was \u201cnot exactly sure if they want or they don\u2019t want,\u201d regime change in Iran, even though he was \u201csure that Israel wants a change in regime and is supporting that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The only way that Iran will change its color, so to speak, is with a change of regime<\/p>\n
He argued that \u201cthe only way that Iran will change its color, so to speak, is with a change of regime.\u201d He elaborated by saying that the required shift cannot mean swapping in a marginally softer Islamist government but instead must bring in leaders committed to turning Iran into a genuinely democratic state with a more Western-oriented outlook.<\/p>\n
Abadie expressed the hope that President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu would meet and come to the realization that this is the only way to change Iran. If they do not, he cautioned, Iran will go on backing the Houthis, Hamas, \u201cthe Hezbollahs of Iraq\u201d and other militant groups, and he noted that some observers have even linked Tehran to the attack at Bondi Beach in Australia.<\/p>\n
Again and again, Abadie returned to the same refrain: From Syria\u2019s fragile transition to Gaza\u2019s stalled roadmap and Iran\u2019s unresolved nuclear ambitions, the region\u2019s future, he said, remains a matter of \u201cwait and see.\u201d With so many players still unwilling or unable to force real change, his assessment of the Middle East\u2019s next chapter was less triumphant than wary.<\/p>\n
Rabbi Dr. Elie Abadie is a Lebaneseborn rabbi and physician who grew up in Mexico City and later moved to the United States, where he was ordained at Yeshiva University\u2019s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and earned an M.D. from SUNY Downstate Medical Center. He founded several prominent Sephardic institutions in New York, including the Edmond J. Safra Synagogue, and is currently senior rabbi emeritus of the Jewish community in the United Arab Emirates and the Association of Gulf Jewish Communities, where he played a leading role in Jewish life and interfaith engagement in the Gulf following the Abraham Accords.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stressing a \u201cwait and see\u201d approach, Rabbi Elie Abadie weighs in on the political situation in Gaza and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-213098","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}