Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa last week to discuss the ongoing normalization talks between Damascus and Jerusalem, Syrian state media reported on Sunday. 

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. 

A spokesperson for Lauder confirmed to eJewishPhilanthropy that the two spoke for more than 30 minutes and that this was their first meeting.

“We had a very positive discussion about normalization between Israel and Syria,” Lauder wrote on X.

Lauder has an extensive background in Israeli-Syrian relations. In 1998, he was tasked by then-as-now Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with leading negotiations between the two countries, which resulted in a draft proposal for a peace treaty that ultimately was not adopted.

The Syrian state media report also noted that Lauder “has Syrian roots.” His spokesperson confirmed that this was true, but clarified that this is a distant connection going back “centuries.” 

Al-Sharaa, a former member of al-Qaeda who has since renounced Islamist terrorism, led a coup against deposed Syrian leader Bashar Assad last year. Since then, al-Sharaa has maintained a complicated relationship with Israel, which fears that Syria will continue to serve as a staging ground for attacks against it by Islamist groups and Iran-backed militias. Israel has also vowed to protect Syria’s Druze population, which has come under attack by Bedouin militias allied with al-Sharaa.

In recent months, Israel and Syria have been negotiating a security agreement — the forerunner to a potential peace treaty. 

“Negotiations with Syria are taking place. Their conclusion is contingent on ensuring the interests of Israel, which include, inter alia, the demilitarization of south-western Syria and preserving the safety and security of the Druze in Syria,” Netanyahu said last Wednesday. 

Lauder’s meeting with al-Sharaa was one of many that he held with world leaders during the U.N. General Assembly. This included a meeting between Lauder and French President Emmanuel Macron, whom several Jewish groups refused to meet in light of his push for international recognition of Palestinian statehood. 

Lauder or WJC Board Chair Chella Safra also met with leaders from Poland, the Czech Republic, the European Union, Cyprus, Greece, Bahrain, Singapore and others, WJC said.