On Sunday, December 14, the Irwin Cotler Institute hosted its first Diplomats’ Club of the 2025-2026 academic year. Attended by 92 people, including members of 15 diplomatic delegations from Belgium, Brazil, China, Cyprus, Egypt, India, Kenya, Lithuania, Moldova, North Macedonia, Panama, Portugal, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the European Union, the seminar was moderated by Ms. Maria Ellul, a 2025-2026 Cotler Fellow.

The seminar focused on current events in Syria following the overthrow of the Assad regime and marked the publication of the Arabic translation of Dr. Carl Yonker’s book, The Rise and Fall of Greater Syria (De Gruyter, 2021). Dr. Yonker, the Academic Director of the Center, opened the first session with a detailed overview of the current geopolitical struggle for Syria in historical perspective, arguing that the Syrian state once again finds itself weak and fragmented as it did in the early years of independence.

Following Dr. Yonker’s remarks, Mr. Roee Nahmias, the former Arab affairs correspondent for Ynet and a PhD candidate at TAU, offered a detailed analysis of Syria’s new constitution and transitional president, Ahmed al-Sharaa’, addressing the extent to which the new Syrian regime can be considered moderate and whether its moderation can be considered a true transformation or simply a tactical maneuver.

Former Ambassador to Russia, Arkady Mil-Man, concluded the first session with a lecture on the future of Russian-Syrian relations. Commenting on the connection between the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria in Russian-Israeli relations, Amb. Mil-Man argued that Israel’s neutrality in the Ukraine conflict was due to the Russian presence in Syria, Israel’s concern for the Jewish community in Russia, and a psychological fear that the “Russian bear” would react angrily if Israel supported Ukraine. To its shame, according to Amb. Mil-Man, Israel never spoke a word of support or defense of the Ukrainian Jewish community that was being bombed by Russia. Yet when Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar finally did so in the summer of 2025, there was no antagonistic response from Russia, revealing Israel’s fear of Putin was possibly mistaken all along.

After a delicious lunch, the second session on prospects of peace between Syria and Israel began with the blessing and lighting of the first candle for Hanukkah by Ms. Ellul and Cotler Fellow Hanmin Oh.

Following the candle lighting, Prof. Eyal Zisser, a renowned scholar of Syria, spoke on Syrian-Israeli peace negotiations in historical perspective, suggesting that reaching a security arrangement between the two countries is far more likely than a peace or normalization agreement. Concluding the seminar, Dr. Ofir Winter, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, gave a thought-provoking and insightful lecture on Islamic popular and legal discourse in Syria regarding peace with Israel, highlighting views on Jews, Israel and peace expressed by leading clerics and regime figures.