An historic gathering took place on Tuesday, Oct. 17, as the Jewish Chamber of Commerce teamed up with the Muslim-American Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida to present a panel discussion on the subject, "Forced to be Free: The Failure of Democratization in the Middle East."

"At this panel discussion, the topics discussed included the thoughts from our panelists regarding why democracy has struggled to take hold in the Middle East, the causes of and the results of the Arab Spring uprisings, and the roles played by religion and technology in the Middle East," said Michael Brodsky, panel discussion moderator and member of the Jewish Chamber Board of Directors.

Panel discussion members, Professor Eytan Gilboa, Ramin Asgard, and Ido Sivan-Sevilla, who established a cyber-security unit for Israel's Prime Minister Office.

This lunch and learn featured Professor Eytan Gilboa, the founding chairman and academic director of the Israel Public Diplomacy Forum; Ramin Asgard, a former U.S. Foreign Service officer who served as primary foreign policy adviser to Generals David Petraeus and James Mattis; and Ido Sivan-Sevilla, who established a cyber-security unit for Israel's Prime Minister Office.

According to Bobby Davidowitz, president of the Jewish Chamber of Commerce, "Khalid Muneer, president of the Muslim-American Chamber, said to me that 'we are business chambers, not religious chambers.' It made me think about how powerful doing business together can be. When you do business with someone, it seems like all the differences fall away. When you focus on the common goal of doing good business, you don't see religion, you see the person. That is a powerful concept I'm honored to be a part of."

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