Arab Center Washington DC to host Conference on Second Trump Administration Policies toward the Middle East

The Arab Center Washington DC (ACW) will host its 10th Annual Conference and Anniversary Celebration on Thursday Oct. 16, 2025 at the National Press Club.

The symposium will open with keynote remarks from Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Jr., retired American diplomat and foreign service officer; former assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs; and former US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

The conference will also feature a high-level panel discussion which will critically examine the policies of the second Trump administration toward the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and their implications for democracy, human rights, international law, and regional stability

During the event, ACW Executive Director, Khalil Jahshan, Deputy Executive Director, Tamara Kharroub, and members of the ACW Board of Directors will present the ACW Excellence Award 2025 to Mehdi Hasan, Editor-in-Chief and founder of Zeteo, for his commitment to media excellence and journalistic integrity.

The half-day conference will convene leading scholars, policy experts, and prominent voices on MENA politics to assess the administration’s early decisions, explore their legal and normative dimensions, and develop informed realistic policy recommendations.

Panelists will include:

Noura Erakat – a Human Rights Attorney and Legal Scholar, and a Professor in the Department of Africana Studies and the Program in Criminal Justice at Rutgers University

Josh Paul – the Co-Founder and Director of A New Policy, and a Former Director in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs at the US Department of State

Shibley Telhami – the Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development and Director of the Critical Issues Poll at the University of Maryland, and a Member of the Academic Advisory Board at Arab Center Washington DC

Jasmine El-Gamal – the Founder and Director of Mindwork Strategies, the Creator and Host of The View From Here Podcast, and a Former Pentagon Middle East Advisor, and National Security and Middle East Expert

Nader Hashemi – the Director of the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding and an Associate Professor of Middle East and Islamic Politics at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University

Patricia Karam – Vice President of Policy and Communications at the American Taskforce on Lebanon and a Non-resident Fellow at Arab Center Washington DC

ACW is an independent nonprofit and nonpartisan research organization dedicated to furthering the political, economic, and social understanding of the Arab world in the United States and to providing insight on US policies and interests in the Middle East.

For more information and to register to attend, please visit:

https://arabcenterdc.org/event/trump-and-the-middle-east-a-second-term-review/

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