Philip Klutznick the American Jewish leaders to meet with President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Secretary of State John Foster Dulles to discuss Middle Eastern policy and events. In 1977, Klutznick became President of the World Jewish Congress, succeeding Nahum Goldmann who had led the group since 1949. During negotiations that preceded the 1977 Camp David Accords, Klutznick met with Israeli leader Menachem Begin, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, and Jimmy Carter, as well as other US administration officials. In 1978, Klutznick initiated a commission headed by Guy de Rothschild to examine the economic implications of Arab-Israeli peace for Israel and the international Jewish community.
Assassination of Anwar Sadat arrest of numerous opposition figures. Though Sadat still maintained high levels of popularity in Egypt, it has been said that he was assassinated "at the peak" of his unpopularity. Earlier in his presidency, Islamists had benefited from the "rectification revolution" and the release from prison of activists jailed under Nasser but Sadat's Sinai treaty with Israel enraged Islamists, particularly the radical Egyptian Islamic Jihad. According to interviews and information gathered by journalist Lawrence Wright, the group was recruiting military officers and accumulating weapons, waiting for the right moment to launch "a complete overthrow of the existing order" in Egypt. Chief