The Honorable Zalmay M. Khalilzad, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, will be the featured guest speaker at this year’s 85th Anniversary Dinner of Agudath Israel of America, an organizational spokesman announced today. 

“Ambassador Khalilzad has been front and center in America’s battle against terror over the past six years,” said Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, Agudath Israel’s executive vice president for government and public affairs.  “We are fortunate to have an opportunity at our dinner to gain insight into the precarious world situation directly from one of the most knowledgeable and influential diplomats on the international scene today.  And we are also fortunate to have an opportunity to display our community’s appreciation for the Bush Administration’s steadfast support of Israel in the United Nations and its ongoing commitment to battle the forces of evil and terror across the globe.”

Prior to assuming his post earlier this year as America’s Representative at the United Nations, Ambassador Khalilzad served as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq – and, before that, as U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan. He has served in the administrations of President Ronald Reagan, President George H.W. Bush, and now President George W. Bush.

The Agudath Israel dinner will take place Sunday evening, May 13, 2007, at the New York Hilton.