By Andrew Adler
Community Editor
Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel B. Shapiro
Daniel Benjamin Shapiro is not exactly reluctant to share what’s on his mind. The former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, who will speak next month at the Trager Family JCC in an event presented by the Jewish Federation of Louisville in partnership with Jewish Federations of North America and other organizations, is a man of frank opinions. Witness, for instance, what he writes in the current online issue of The Atlantic:
“Some are advocating, in light of the war in Gaza after October 7, to end U.S. support for Israel. I argue that would be a moral, political, and strategic mistake.”
The Champaign, Illinois native (and 1991 Brandeis University alum) Shapiro will share his thoughts on this and other relevant topics during a talk slated for Tuesday, Jan. 20 at 6:15 p.m at the Trager Family JCC’s Shapira Foundation Auditorium.
Titled, “The Future of the Middle East: The Secret Sauce of Regional Integration,” his program will draw on his experience as ambassador from 2011-2017 under President Obama.
The event is part of the “Israel in Focus” speakers tour, which seeks “to provide timely updates and insights” on matters related to the situation in Gaza and related topics. Addtionally, the tour “connects national expertise with local action, empowering communities to deepen understanding, strengthen relationships, and stand united in support of Israel and the Jewish people.”
Shapiro will also speak about his more recent tenure as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, leading the Pentagon’s response to the October 7, 2023 attacks and advancing regional integration through the Abraham Accords.
Asked during a Sept. 25, 2025 CBS News 24/7 interview about whether the United States should formally recognize a Palestinian state, Shapiro had this to say:
“Well, the U.S. in the past has supported a two-state solution,” he said. “I’m not sure that’s the current policy of the Trump administration, but they didn’t join Western countries like France and the U.K. in recognizing a Palestinian state this week. I don’t think those recognitions actually do very much to change the situation on the ground or advance the prospects for peace.”
As his extensive résumé indicates, it’s no surprise that Shapiro devotes much of his attention to the relationship between Israel and the U.S. A geopolitical pragmatist, he acknowledges its often-fraught nature, a dynamic inevitably intensified by October 7 and its aftermath in Gaza.
In his Dec. 17 online column for The Atlantic’s Ideas section, Shapiro references attending the 2025 Doha Forum, which ran Dec. 6-8 in the Qatari capital city. Unsurprisingly, he says, anti-Israel rhetoric dominated the proceedings.
“No one,” Shapiro said, “attends the Doha Forum to hear balanced discussions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Shapiro credits Donald Trump for his role in securing a Gaza ceasefire and the release of all but one of the hostages, alive and dead.
“But implementation of the second phase of Trump’s plan has stalled,” Shapiro says. “The plan calls for the full disarmament of Hamas—relinquishing its weapons, the means of producing or smuggling new ones, and tunnels. And that is the sine qua non for every other element of the plan—deployment of an international stabilization force, releasing tens of billions of dollars in reconstruction funds, standing up technocratic transitional Palestinian leadership, achieving a full Israeli withdrawal. None of those other steps—or the better life for Palestinians in Gaza they promise to provide—will happen unless Hamas is fully removed from power and disarmed.”
Indeed, Shapiro observes: “If others at the conference shared this focus, we were a distinct minority. There were plenty of calls for treating Israel as an international pariah, labeling the country’s response to the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion as a genocide, criticizing the United States for its support for Israel, and even treating Hamas as a legitimate “resistance” organization rather than a violent terrorist group.
Crucially, Shapiro argues, “the story of the attack and its aftermath—so often ignored in commentaries about the past two years—affirms that what the United States was dealing with was not a genocidal nation out to destroy all Palestinians but a deeply imperfect democratic partner beset by enemies, actual genocidal enemies, and terrorists sworn to its physical destruction.”
Want to hear more? Then come hear Shapiro on Jan. 20. (a dessert reception will follow) Space is limited, however, so please register early. RSVP by Jan.19 at tinyurl.com/mr23ft6z.
Ambassador Daniel Shapiro’s Jan. 20 talk at the Trager Family JCC is being presented by the Jewish Federation of Louisville in partnership with Jewish Federations of North America, the American Jewish Committee, the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, and the Anti-Defamation League.