Both wars have raised concerns about possible regional spillovers, concerns that may be addressed in Munich.
Leading politicians, military officers and diplomats from around the world gathered in Munich on Friday for a security conference that will focus on the war between Israel and Ukraine and concerns about the United States’ commitment to defend allies.
Senior officials including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, US Vice President Kamala Harris and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attended the Munich Security Conference (MSC), a conference focused on defense and diplomacy annual global gathering.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayeh are also expected to attend the meeting, which will take place at the luxury Bavarian Hof hotel in the southern German city on Friday and run until Sunday.
The meeting comes as the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinian extremist group Hamas, which has killed more than 28,000 Palestinians and about 1,430 Israelis, enters its fifth month and is not yet over.
It also comes shortly before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine enters its third year.
Both wars have raised concerns about possible regional spillovers, concerns that may be addressed in Munich.
“The world has become a more dangerous place,” Jens Stoltenberg, secretary-general of NATO’s Western defense alliance, told Reuters on Wednesday.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said officials from European countries that fund the occupied Palestinian territories, as well as major Arab and Gulf states, will meet on the sidelines of the Munich conference to begin discussions on the future of Israel and the Palestinian people after a potential ceasefire.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also expected to join.
“There are a lot of things that we need to start talking about now,” Cameron said in a speech in Britain’s House of Lords. “Whether it’s the question of how to provide political vision for people in the Palestinian territories, or how we deal with the real security issues in Israel.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said he would set foot on German soil for the first time and deliver a keynote speech at the conference, but was prevented from doing so because he grew up in a family of Holocaust survivors.
“I will do whatever it takes to maintain Israel’s security, secure our future and return the hostages,” he said.
Ukraine aid bill faces hurdles
Zelensky is expected to plead for more support for Ukraine as the U.S. House of Representatives shels a multibillion-dollar military aid package for Ukraine.
“The stakes couldn’t be higher,” said a senior State Department official, who said the delays were already being felt on the battlefield. “Our support is absolutely critical to achieving Ukraine’s goals.”
European and U.S. officials are increasingly warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin could attack other countries if his military campaign in Ukraine succeeds.
“It’s clear that Putin is not going to stop in Ukraine,” another State Department official said.
Russian officials were not invited to a Mediterranean security conference for the second year in a row because they seemed uninterested in meaningful dialogue, organizers said.
Trump casts shadow
The incident comes as the U.S.’s broader commitment to defending its allies is called into question as the prospect of former President Donald Trump’s re-election looms.
Such concerns have reignited calls for more strategic autonomy in Europe. Until recently, the idea was supported by only a few countries, notably France, but it is gaining traction and may be addressed at security conferences.
Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, caused alarm in Europe on Saturday when he said he would not defend NATO allies who failed to spend enough on defense.
Harris is scheduled to deliver what aides call a major speech on “the importance of fulfilling America’s global leadership role” before meeting with U.S. lawmakers Zelensky and Scholz on Friday.
Harris’ leadership is also likely to come under scrutiny after a Justice Department special counsel report last week described 81-year-old President Joe Biden as an old man with “poor memory.” Trump is 77 years old.
Other major international issues will also feature at the conference, such as conflicts in the Horn of Africa that are exacerbating food insecurity and displacing millions of people, and relations between the West and China.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
