A recognition of Israeli contributions in Washington

April 19, 2007 - 7:39 PM by

Last month I left one capital, Jerusalem, to go to another, Washington, in order to attend the 2007 AIPAC Policy Conference. I had attended policy conference many times before but it was my first time attending it as an Israeli citizen and resident of Israel.

It was a very unique experience. Hearing about all the dangers facing Israel, I wondered if many of the guests and speakers had been in the country that I now know and love. Even as I live in Jerusalem, my biggest fear is not the Iranian nuclear threat but rather the mundane aspects of life – traffic, making a living, work and family. I was disappointed that, besides a presentation by ISRAEL21c’s own Larry Weinberg and a session on Israeli high tech, that very little was presented about the day-to-day life of Israel and the positive aspects of Israel (it’s not all bombs and danger – as a result western aliya is at record highs!).

However, on the last day of the conference, after one speech, I felt a little bit better. You see, apparently America’s new Speaker of the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi is an avid reader of ISRAEL21c (which I had just discovered earlier in the week). It was just two paragraphs from her speech (and no, I certainly didn’t agree with all of her speech) but, of all the speakers, I was most thrilled to hear the following excerpt from America’s first female speaker:

Pioneers founded the State of Israel. Their spirit lives on today as Israel is on the cutting edge of the next generation of discovery, innovation, and growth. Israel’s entrepreneurial spirit has produced the world’s largest per capita number of engineers and the world’s largest number of bio-tech startups. The cell phone was developed there and it was Israelis who invented AOL Instant Messenger.

There’s been so much talking about the security situation it’s important to know the incredible contribution that Israel is making to the world. With innovation we broaden our horizon and we expand our vision in order to create a better world.

It’s great to know that someone is listening.
(The full speech can be viewed here and excerpts of all the speeches are here)

Tags: • Category: A New Reality, General, Israeliness, Politics, Travel 

Comments

One Comment on A recognition of Israeli contributions in Washington

  1. Darnell Clayton on Fri, Apr 20th 2007 4:48 PM

    2. That’s good news to hear. Still, I think the reason for the “alarm” is mainly due to the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe and abroad.

    Although you may not feel threatened by this as much as the next person, (which is a good thing), the threat to Israel still remains, thus the concern (and purpose) for these meetings.

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