Israeli Consulate Celebrates Anniversary of Abraham Accords

In recognition of the one-year anniversary of the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords, Israel’s first treaties with Arab governments in a quarter-century, the Consulate General of Israel brought the Jewish celebration to the campus of Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy on Friday, Sept. 10. About 200 middle school students attended in person, while first through fifth-graders watched on Zoom.

There were three main speakers featured: Consul General of Israel Dr. Hillel Newman, Hillel’s Head of Jewish Life and Academics Rabbi Zach Swigard and Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter. Each offered separate perspectives on the Accords: political, religious and non-Jewish.

“You are the leaders of tomorrow,” Kanter, a Turkish Muslim, told the students. 

“You are the leaders of tomorrow,” Kanter, a strongly pro-Israel Turkish Muslim, told the students. He added that students who are 12, 13 and 14 years old should be familiar with global events such as treaties. Swiss-born Kanter, active in Muslim-Jewish relations in Israel, later conducted a basketball clinic for Hillel boys and Muslim boys from Salam Muslim Day School.

Swigard explained to the Journal how the event came about. Two weeks earlier, Newman, the father of a Hillel seventh-grader, called to say, “Since we will be celebrating the anniversary of the Abraham Accords, here is a beautiful idea for the school.”  

The consul general had connected with the 29-year-old Kanter, who has an active relationship with the Consulate General of Israel in Boston. “Enes wants to do a program to promote unity, to promote togetherness, focusing on our similarities rather than our differences,” Newman told Swigard, and the program was born.

Swigard is confident the middle school students have a thorough understanding of the Accords, which were Israel’s treaties with first the United Arab Emirates, followed by Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.

“We have a strong Israel education program, led by Dalia Golan, our Hebrew language coordinator,” he said. “Once the Accords happened last year, we taught what they were [and] their meaning, and we watched videos about it. This year, leading up to the first anniversary, we had educational components to teach to them. We stressed again the historical components. This has become part of our annual curriculum.”

Swigard told his student audience, “Today is about furthering our understanding of peace … We are proud to be welcoming our guest [Kanter] to show our shared commitment to similar values, mutual respect [and] peace.”

After three national anthems – for the U.S., Israel and the United Arab Emirates – were piped into the auditorium, Newman took the stage.

He reminded the students that it was 20 years since 9/11. “In this same week, we are marking, celebrating, the one-year anniversary of signing the Accords between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, which led to three more countries signing on,” he said. “With these two events coinciding in the same week, it shows who we are and who our enemies are.”

He said that Enes is “a symbol of peace, coexistence, building bridges to communities, bridges to peace. He is here to celebrate the values that we have taught.”

Kanter later reflected on how he sat with Newman in a kosher restaurant and told him about his idea for a basketball project.

“The question I always ask is, what can I do to bring communities and religions together?” he said. “I believe that it doesn’t matter what your religion is, what your culture is, or your skin color. Most important is to find what we have in common.”