Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich will share the stage with Amit Segal, Israel’s most-watched political analyst, in one of the marquee conversations of the second Middle East Summit — the first of several headline pairings planned for the July 9 event. Hosted by Israel365 in Jerusalem, the summit gathers Cabinet ministers, foreign ambassadors, Members of Knesset, and the country’s leading journalists around the four questions defining Israel’s next decade: security, sovereignty, regional alliances, and the economy.
Several other headline conversations are planned. U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee — the former Arkansas governor and longtime evangelical ally of Israel — is expected to appear in a personal conversation with philanthropist and pro-Israel advocate Tila Falic-Levi. Technology entrepreneur Galina Datskovsky Moerdler is slated to speak with Abby Lee, Taiwan’s top envoy to Israel, on how small nations turn innovation and alliances into strategic strength. And Rabbi Pesach Wolicki, executive director of Israel365 Action, will join media personality Yishai Fleisher to examine the future of the U.S.-Israel relationship.
The government will be well represented. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar is among those invited, and Orit Strock, Minister of Settlements and National Missions and a veteran religious-Zionist lawmaker, is also expected to attend. Hosting the summit is Member of Knesset Ohad Tal, chairman of the Knesset’s Victory Caucus, who filled the same role at the inaugural gathering in 2024.
The participation of Taiwan’s envoy points to the summit’s focus on Israel’s shifting alliances. As tensions with China rise across the Indo-Pacific, ties between the two small democracies have deepened. Israel also remains the only United Nations member state to formally recognize the independence of Somaliland — the kind of unconventional partnership the summit’s session on regional alliances is expected to examine.
Rounding out the program is a broad cross-section of Israeli journalists, retired senior military commanders, and community leaders. Among them is veteran diplomatic correspondent Ariel Kahana, who is slated to moderate a session on Israel’s evolving security doctrine — from the IDF’s ethical code to the lessons of Oslo.
Israel365 founder Rabbi Tuly Weisz will open the summit, as he did in 2024. That inaugural event, held at Jerusalem’s Waldorf Astoria, drew some 500 attendees to a program centered on former U.S. Ambassador David Friedman’s book One Jewish State, and helped move the debate over Israeli sovereignty toward the political mainstream.
Several of the most senior figures are listed as invited, and organizers say the final roster will be confirmed as the date approaches, which is not unusual for an event drawing officials whose schedules can shift with national developments. A complete program will be published before July 9.
