From the Desk of Ambassador Reda Mansour

Democratic governments tend to take on the characteristics of their citizens. Israel is no exception. Israelis wake up every morning and strive to better the world around them. This is probably why Israel is one of today’s global leaders for technological innovation. Israeli scientists, inventors, and researchers have created new medical treatments, developed ecologically sustainable ways to harness the Earth’s scarce resources, and produced new methods of communication to better connect the peoples of world.

The Israeli government takes pride in the accomplishments of its people, and for years has echoed their selfless example by taking a global lead in delivering humanitarian aid and relief. For the last 60 years the freest country in the Middle East has traveled the world to alleviate human suffering. Israel is home to the Center for International Cooperation (MASHAV), a part of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs founded in 1958. The organization trains local medical teams, provides aid, and builds advanced facilities around the globe.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has shared its knowledge and trained over 250,000 local health care providers, scientists, engineers, and aid workers. Israel’s support and resources have been sent to over 130 countries. Following the May, 2008 earthquake in China’s Sichuan Province, Israel shipped well over $1.5 million in relief equipment to those affected by the disaster. The shipments included blankets, sleeping bags, medial equipment, and water purification systems. Our country is also working with China to establish a water supply and purification plant in the area.

In Africa, Israel has expanded its medical centers and efforts to combat blindness and aid amputees. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has worked closely with the United Nations and the World Health Organization to treat refuges from Darfur and other war torn regions on the continent. In the last year alone more than ten African countries have received Israeli aid, including Kenya, the Ivory Cost, Eritrea, and the Central African Republic, among others.

Israel is also working to combat Africa’s high infant mortality rate. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is currently setting up two advanced neonatology units in Ghana. One of the units has already come online and Israeli doctors and medical experts are working hard to train Ghana’s health professionals to save the lives of countless children.

Israel has also supported its close friend and ally, the United States. In 1996, Israeli relief workers were some of the first on the scene of the U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. Israeli workers helped clear the rubble and treat the wounded. Israel was there when Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, sending over eight tons of medical equipment, food, water, and other supplies to those hit hardest by the storm.

Israel even extends a helping hand to those who attack her. In the face of repeated homicide bombings and rocket attacks from the terrorists of Hamas, this past year saw over 28,000 Israeli trucks carrying almost 655,000 tons of medical supplies, food, and aid cross into Gaza. Israeli fuel stations have remained open, despite repeated attacks on their workers, to deliver well over 4 million liters of fuel per week.

Our country has also opened its borders with Gaza to those in medical need. Since the beginning of 2008, over 10,000 Gazans have received medical treatment in Israel. These Gazans pay no Israeli taxes and are not part of any Israeli treatment plan, and yet the receive care without any hesitation. Hamas terrorists have attempted to use Israel’s humanitarian efforts against her, disguising homicide bombers as patients ordered to blow themselves up at check point, in ambulances, and in hospitals. Despite this, Israel continues to accept those in need and it is not uncommon after an attack to find one of these Hamas terrorists receiving treatment in the same hospital as their victims.

I have seen Israel’s commitment to humanity first hand. As Israel’s Ambassador to Ecuador I saw hundreds of Ecuadorian professionals who used MASHAV programs to improve the lives of their families and communities. They were trained in Israel and came back with cutting edge know how, shared with them by their Israeli colleagues. I have seen one person return from such training and change the life of his entire village in the Amazon rain forest. I also headed humanitarian relief missions after natural disasters, including volcano eruptions. Our missions, staffed by Israeli trained Ecuadorian doctors, went into remote villages bringing help and hope.

In the 21^st century every country must understand that poverty and disease know no borders. In our global society, every member is only as strong as the weakest. Israel has a growing first world economy and a strong and open democracy. As such, our country is called to aid all those who suffer around the world. We understand our responsibilities. For the last 60 years our country has met the call and served the global community.

Article appeared in the Atlanta Jewish Times on September 26, 2008

It took two thousand years to dream of it, sixty years to plan it, and sixty more to bring it to life. The modern state of Israel will celebrate its sixtieth anniversary in 2008 with great pride in its achievements and with the knowledge that its story, like that of any other democratic society, remains unfinished. We Israelis live in a region filled with great instability and anxiety, but we will never give up our hope for peace.

Israel is a small place, no bigger than any state in the American South. Yet its people represent a brave and ancient nation with a dynamic soul. Today Israel ranks among the world’s 25 most advanced and freest nations. In 1995 it was the first country to sign a free trade agreement with both the United States and Europe. Israel is the only non-European Union state to be included in the EU science program, and was recently announced as a candidate for the prestigious Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Israelis believe that anything can be possible. This was our belief from the moment our first immigrants entered the Promised Land in the late nineteenth century, and it continues to drive us today. The strongest internal calling of contemporary Israelis echoes the desire of early Zionist thinker Achad Ha’am (1856-1927): to fulfill Israel’s destiny as ‘a light unto the nations.’ Achad Ha’am’s essential idea to create an intellectual hub in the Promised Land still motivates the Israeli spirit of innovation and generosity.

This is the attitude behind the Israel of scientific achievement, the powerhouse of innovation that created the smallest satellites in the sky, the smallest pill cameras, and technologies that are incorporated into every cell phone and personal computer. Israel leads the world in the number of patents registered and high-tech firms per capita.

Israelis do not dwell on their security problems. Since the early 1950s they have journeyed throughout the developing world to share their technological expertise. When MASHAV aid recipients from the Amazon to Southeast Asia refer to Israel as a superpower, it has nothing to do with its military power. To them Israel is a superpower because it sends them engineers to help them acquire drinking water, or doctors to help them treat diseases.

In spite of these achievements, the Israelis have yet to attain what will be their greatest accomplishment. They long for the day when they will live peacefully and securely along side a stable, prosperous Palestinian state. Peace is the desire of the Israelis, and it is our wish for all of our children over the next sixty years: Palestinians and Israelis; Arabs and Jews alike.

The Israeli – Palestinian conflict is one of many conflicts in the area stretching from the Persian Gulf to Northern Africa. There are those who are determined turn the Middle East into the center of a global clash of civilizations. Israel, however, will use its next sixty years as it used its first sixty, working to achieve the dream of peace and stability. Our history gives us hope as it teaches us that people of good faith do have the power to implement their dreams. Our peaceful wishes and positive thinking might make us seem weak to tyrants, but Israel will prove that the victory of peace over hate is inevitable.

Article appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on May 8th, 2008; in the Birmingham News on May 18th, 2008; in the Asheville Citizen Times on May 18th, 2008; and in Israel 21C on May 19th, 2008

Upon its upcoming 60th birthday, Israel will look back on a great history of achievement, far beyond its achievement of mere survival. Looking to its future, Israel’s main focus will continue to be nation-building, the foundation for its citizens’ quality of life in the place they proudly call home.

In the past six decades, Israel has realized levels of advanced technology and statehood that few nations in this world have been able to attain, and Israel has accomplished this even in the face of ongoing conflict and the struggle for survival. From minisatellites high in the sky to smart submarines deep in the seas, from the technology that helps navigate the Internet to the technology that helps doctors navigate inside the human body, Israeli innovation is an essential ingredient. It is in every computer, every cellphone and every other means of telecommunication that our modern world relies on.

It is the quintessential Israeli attitude that has produced this innovation, advancement and social welfare in Israel: Anything and everything is possible if one puts his mind to it. This same Israeli attitude envisioned their cattle leading the world in milk production in a place where other people saw only swamps and wasteland. It envisioned fish farms and sweet watermelon groves using subterranean salt water where others could see only a desert wilderness.

Israel has managed to become the leading country in the world in the number of doctors, engineers and scientists per capita despite its volatile borders and dangerous neighbors. We have to remember that Israel has not seen one decade without violence, and it has paid the price for survival with the lives of too many young heroes. But come what may, Israel remains among the leading nations in average life expectancy.
It is of course life that is the most valued entity, the most important principle for the Israeli people. Yet Israel is in a neighborhood where the sanctity of life is becoming more vulnerable than ever: Growing violence in the Middle East, especially in the past seven years, coupled with the culture of death propagated by terror masterminds in Tehran and Gaza, is endangering life, in every meaning of the word. The past seven years have been an awkward mix of continued success in Israel and a growing doubt of peace in the region’s future.

Many Israelis have lost hope for a peaceful existence, and thousands of them have left the country since the outbreak of the second intifada in 2000. Last year was the first year since the early 1980s that Israel had more people leaving the country than immigrating to it. It is no surprise, then, that Israel’s major challenge in the next decade will be regaining the confidence of the Israeli people in their homeland’s future.

It is true that some challenges require the cooperation of our neighbors and do not depend on our action alone. However, there exist many other internal social issues that must be addressed.

The economic divide is wider in Israel today than it has ever been. On one side, we see 40 families that control a huge chunk of the Israeli economy and the high-tech millionaires living the “American dream” in Israel. On the other side, we see the middle class that has been the foundation for Israel’s democracy, defense and prosperity shrinking every day. If Israel continues to drift in the direction of a society composed of the extremely poor and the extremely wealthy, it will lose those in the middle who are the base of its society.

As we usher in the Jewish year of 5768 and reflect on Israel’s turbulent and unparalleled history, we hold on to the hope that the future holds more promise. We wish that the next seven years will be the seven good years, that they will see a decrease in violence from Israel’s enemies and that they will see the rejuvenation of the strong social base that made Israel an exemplary world leader in innovation.

Article appeared in the Atlanta Jewish Times on August 7th, 2007