On November 11th, 2025, at the official Reception Dinner of the WeAreMENA Launch Summit in Paris – co-hosted with AJC – Founder and Executive Director Tom Vizel delivered a keynote address to ambassadors, parliamentarians, diplomats, philanthropists, and youth leaders from across MENA and Europe.
His remarks captured the spirit of the new network, the lessons drawn from Europe, and the vision for a more connected, moderate, and hopeful future for the region.
You can read the full keynote address delivered at the WeAreMENA Launch Summit here:
Good evening,
His Excellency, Ambassador Eric Danon
His Excellency, Ambassador Joshua Zarka
Madame Constane Le Grip, Deputy of the National Assembly,
Dear partners from AJC, Anne-Sophie Sebban-Bécache AJC Vice President Europe and Sarah Perez-Pariente AJC Paris vice director who did so much for making this exiting evening happen, together with Benjy Rogers from AJC Center for a New Middle east – thank you!
My dear partners and friends from Emirates Scholar Abu Dahbi, Doctor Firas Habbal and Doctor Fawaz Habbal
Our new friends from the Abramundi organization Mr. and Ms. Benichou, The Leap Forword team, and respected representatives from Abraham Accords UK and Abrahma Accords Institute.
Distinguished guests and friends from Europe and America.
And the people that without them this event couldn’t have happened – my Dear partners, youth leaders from the Middle East, North Africa, the WeAreMENA Network Member organizations.
On behalf of the WeAreMENA Network, it is a true honor to welcome you to this evening –
co-hosted with our valued partners and friends at the American Jewish Committee.
Your presence here means a great deal to us.
Tonight is not only a celebration of what we have achieved over the past two days –
it is also a moment to reflect on where we come from, and where we hope to go together.
European Inspiration
We are gathering here in Paris as France marks its Memorial Day –
the day on which, 107 years ago, when the guns of the First World War fell silent.
It is a day of remembrance – but also, for us, a day of learning.
Because a century ago, this continent lay in ruins;
and even eighty years ago, Europe was torn apart yet again by hatred and fear that affected millions of life – including my own family, which went through the Holocaust.
From this grim path, Europe forged a new future – one of cooperation rather than destruction between nations.
In recent decades, the European Union and programs like Erasmus have chosen to build peace not only through diplomacy ,security and economic ties, but through youth education, immersive encounters, and forging a shared identity.
These programs, and the EU itself,
did not erase national differences – they transformed them into sources of connection.
They built a generation that could say “I am French,” “I am German,” “I am Polish,”
and also, proudly add, “I am European.”
That is the inspiration we take from Europe tonight.
Our Regional Challenge
The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia once said that the Middle East should become “the next Europe.”
We want to learn from this model – to transform ourselves from a region of conflict to a region of cooperation and cross-polinization. And we want to do so in a way that is distinctly Middle Eastern & North African, that reflects our cultures, religions and way of life, our warmth and hospitality.
To reach that dream, our region needs diplomatic frameworks,
security cooperation, and economic development.
But – as Europe learned – without the human element, without encounters that touch the heart,
peace remains fragile, distant, and cold.
In our region, beneath many peace agreements and normalization processes lies a deep sense of de-humanization. Many in our region think that we Israelis are colonialist intruders who invented the Holocaust to steal land. And unfortunately, many in my country, Israel, think we are a villa in the jungle, surrounded by barbarians. Each ethnic, religious and national conflict in our region looks different – but they all involve these dehumanizing world views.
To change this reality, we must invest not only in systems – but in souls, to start Rehumanizing one another.
That is the mission that brings us together in WeAreMENA.
What We Built Here
Over the past five years, and especially in the Summit of the last two days,
we have laid the foundations for a new vision.
We have brought together 15 organizations from across the MENA region –
working with youth, educators, minorities, and faith communities that you will meet tonight and talk with.
Together, we studied, dreamed, and acted.
We are honored tonight to finalize and sign together, our Vision Statement, written by a remarkable and diverse team –
leaders from Mimouna Association from Morocco, Takadom for Peace from Palestine, Cyprus Youth Diplomacy, Yekmal a Kurdish-German organization, and NOAL from Israel that have a unique place in creating this Network DNA –
This five Vision Statement Committee members succeeded in finding not only a shared language, but a shared methodology:
A framework for cooperation that is practical, creative, and human.
Our goal is clear:
to create, like Erasmus did for Europe, as many immersive, life-changing encounters as possible
for the young people of our region –
encounters that replace fear with curiosity, prejudice with friendship and despair with hope.
A Network for Action
This cannot be done by individuals alone, no matter how inspiring.
It requires local educational systems, youth organizations,
and community leaders who work wisely and sensitively within their own societies –
and who can bring their youth into regional safe spaces of dialogue like this network.
That is what WeAreMENA is building:
a regional platform that connects local strengths into a shared, resilient ecosystem for the future of the Middle East and North Africa.
Through youth exchanges, educator seminars, and cultural cooperation,
we are re-humanizing the region, one encounter at a time.
Looking Ahead
The summit we just completed marks not an ending, but a beginning.
It is part of a long-term effort to make moderation mainstream –
to turn education, empathy, and partnership not as a project of elites, but rather the center of our region’s identity.
I believe that with the support of our partners –
public institutions, philanthropies, private and diplomatic allies,
and academic and spiritual leaders –
We can rise to the challenge that our Vision Statement sets before us.
The European experience of the past decades gives us both a model and a standard to aim for.
Closing Words
We are proud to hold this event together with AJC Paris,
on this day of remembrance that has become, for us, a day of renewal.
I want to thank you all for being here tonight – to my team that worked so hard days and night to make this possible
and to the amazing youth organizations members of the WeAreMENA growing network, for your friendship, for your faith in this vision, and for your commitment and hard work for a better MENA.
Please take a moment to look at the Vision Statement on your seats,
and join us in this meaningful moment of recognition –
as we celebrate not the end of yet another war, but the beginning of a shared future.
Thank you