U.S.-Egyptian Relations in the Age of ISIS

الخميس ٢١ - نوفمبر - ٢٠٢٤ ٠٨:٤١ صباحاً

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Event Invitation

U.S.-Egyptian Relations in the Age of ISIS

Monday, April 3rd
11:45 am to 1:00 pm

Hudson Institute
Stern Policy Center
1201 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Suite 400
Washington, DC 20004

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Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi’s visit to Washington in early April presents an opportunity to renew the American-Egyptian alliance. Over the past three and half years, a wide gulf in policy approaches has led to disagreements on a range of issues, from democracy and human rights, to Islamist extremism and the Libyan Civil War. Will the diplomatic visit mark a new chapter in U.S.-Egyptian relations?

President Sisi’s visit comes at a critical moment for his country. In the Sinai, the Islamic State’s local affiliate is inflicting daily casualties on security forces. Its genocidal campaign against Egyptian Copts has led to a mass flight of Copts from north Sinai. This followed the bombing of the St. Mark Cathedral compound in Cairo that left 29 people dead.

As the new Trump administration refines its strategy towards the Arabic world’s most populous country, Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom will host a discussion on the security, political, and religious freedom challenges facing Egypt. On April 3, Ambassador Alberto Fernandez, Vice President of the Middle East Media Research Institute, will join Hudson Senior Fellows Nina Shea and Samuel Tadros to assess the situation in Egypt and discuss effective U.S. policy options toward the country.

Speakers

Nina Shea

Senior Fellow Nina Shea is the director of Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom. An international human rights lawyer, Shea works extensively for the advancement of individual religious freedom in U.S. foreign policy. She served seven terms as a commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom from 1999 to 2012. She is the co-author ofSilenced: How Apostasy & Blasphemy Codes are Choking Freedom Worldwide and Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians.

Ambassador Alberto Fernandez

Ambassador Alberto Fernandez is Vice President of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) and a Non-Resident Fellow in Middle East Politics and Media at the TRENDS Foundation in Abu Dhabi. He served as a U.S. diplomat from 1983 to 2015, specializing in the Middle East and Africa. He also served as Coordinator for the State Department’s Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications (CSCC) from 2012 to 2015.

Samuel Tadros

Samuel Tadros is a Senior Fellow at Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom. His research focuses on the rise of Islamist movements in the Middle East and the implications for religious freedom and regional politics. He has also written on Egypt’s Salafi movements, its failed revolution, and the Muslim Brotherhood. His book, Motherland Lost: The Egyptian and Coptic Quest for Modernity, focuses on the Copts and the modern politics of Egypt.