Al-Shara and Lauder during their meeting in New York. (SANA)

The meeting between Syrian President Ahmed Al-Shara and Ronald Lauder, President of the World Jewish Congress, was not just a routine protocol detail amid the busy United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York. It was an unexpected event held at the Syrian mission headquarters and announced days later through a brief news piece by SANA, giving it an official tone yet surrounded by ambiguity. The delay was meaningful, reflecting Damascus’s desire to control the narrative and timing of the meeting, presenting it as part of a broad diplomatic activity rather than a standalone negotiation step.

Lauder is not a new face in this file. In the late 1990s, he acted as an unofficial mediator between Benjamin Netanyahu and Hafez al-Assad, drafting the so-called “Lauder Document” based on the land-for-peace formula. At that time, he operated in complete secrecy with direct green light from Tel Aviv, whereas today he meets Al-Shara openly without showing that he carries a clear negotiating mandate from the Israeli government. Even the mention of Lauder’s “Syrian roots,” which appeared in official Syrian media, was quickly clarified by his office as a very old connection without practical significance.