Pro-Israeli, Pro-Palestinian, Pro-Peace: Gregory Khalil ’03 Discusses Telos Group

Gregory Khalil ’03, president and co-founder of Telos Group, spoke at Yale Law School on November 3, 2017 about his work promoting a deeper understanding of Israeli-Palestinian issues among American leaders. The event, which was sponsored by the Schell Center, was titled, “An Unholy Alliance? Faith, Politics, and the Law: America and the ‘Holy Land.’”

After graduating from Yale Law School, Khalil served as a legal and communications advisor to Palestinian negotiations on peace talks with Israel. During this period, he and his colleagues held a worldview that was markedly different from that of Palestinians and Israelis on the ground. He thought of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a “problem to be resolved by the people in the negotiation room,” and he noted that many involved in the negotiations seemed to believe that his team needed to “go in and save the Israelis and Palestinians from themselves.” This perspective, Khalil explained, neglected the voices of the people he was supposed to be helping.

Now, those voices are a critical part of Khalil’s work with Telos. Through Telos, Khalil organizes trips to Israel-Palestine for conservative and liberal political, faith, business, and cultural leaders in America. The people on these trips have the opportunity to hear firsthand the stories of the people affected by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They return, Khalil asserted, with a transformed understanding of the realities faced by Palestinians and Israelis and a commitment to an ideology Khalil calls “pro-pro-pro”: pro-Israeli, pro-Palestinian, pro-peace. Pro-pro-pro is based on the idea that the conflict is “not a zero-sum game.” Rather, Khalil argued, “If you believe in universal human rights, you have to find a solution that works for both peoples.”

By bringing American leaders on these transformative trips and connecting them with each other, Khalil hopes to build pro-pro-pro constituencies in the U.S. He argues that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has already been incorporated into domestic American politics: for instance, he explained that the town of Dickinson, Texas requires that applicants for relief after Hurricane Harvey promise that they will not boycott Israel. Through Telos, Khalil mobilizes Americans to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a place of “radical empathy” by cultivating a perception of “personal implication.” Only when people have this sense of responsibility, Khalil stressed, are they willing to risk their reputations, their friends, and their lives to “change the status quo.”

Khalil emphasized the role of faith communities in understanding and solving Israeli-Palestinian issues. Historically, he explained, “many people who cared about this conflict did so through the prism of their faith.” He argued that Muslims, Jews, and Christians all have stakes in the conflict and that the political importance of faith is crucial to consider in any attempt to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. To this end, Khalil brings many religious leaders on Telos’s trips, including a large number of evangelical Christians, a group with historical ties to Christian Zionism.

Given the seeming intractability of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, multiple audience members expressed surprise in the question and answer period at Khalil’s optimism about his work. Yet for Khalil, the difficulty of finding a solution to these issues is not a central concern. He believes that human rights work should be “first and foremost about posture, not necessarily results.” Problems like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are “multigenerational,” so no one can work on them expecting to be a hero. “If you want to actually have change,” he recommended, “check your ego at the door.”

Khalil further advised human rights practitioners that “actually knowing the people you’re purporting to help is critical.” He emphasized the importance of bringing more people “into the conversation,” particularly those whose perspectives are usually marginalized. Echoing an idea at the heart of Telos’ mission, Khalil urged, “Allow all people to have a voice.”