From the Desk of Ambassador Reda Mansour

Today Israel ranks as one of the world’s most globalized economies, making it unique in the Middle East. It was among the first countries to establish free trade agreements with the United States and European Union, and today has robust commercial ties with many other states around the world. Israel’s place in the global economy was achieved because of the country’s belief in the integration of the world community and the need to forge international economic cooperation for the mutual benefit of all society. Israel’s positive integration creates a stark contrast to the Middle East, where trade is all too rare.

In the recent years the southeast region of the U.S. has grown rapidly and attracted large scale international investment. Many Israeli companies have discovered the region’s potential and started moving their North American headquarters to the area, creating jobs and strengthening the local economy.

Israel is also expanding its relationship with Europe. Through the EU-Israel Association Council, an organization headed by Foreign Ministers, which conducts the bilateral relations between the two, Israel and Europe are ushering in a new era in relations, a consequence of nearly a year of extensive effort. As a result of hard work, Israel has increased its participation in European plans and agencies and is now being examined for possible integration into the European single market.

The Israeli economy and society are moving closer to European norms and standards. The competitiveness of Israeli companies in the European market is increasing, primarily in the field of high-tech, and with the signing of a recent aviation agreement, another result of the council’s work, consumers in both Israel and Europe will benefit from lower prices.

Increased trade and cooperation have improved Israel’s relations with Europe and with the EU in recent years. Israel has enjoyed a significant improvement in its diplomatic relations with most European states, as well as with EU institutions, which is expressed, among other ways, in the many visits to Israel paid by European leaders.

Israel and Europe have reached a number of important agreements over the past year, including: an upgrade in the diplomatic-strategic dialogue between Israel and the EU; Israel’s new membership to the official EU program for research and development; and trade liberalization in the field of agriculture. A framework agreement has been signed for Israel to enter EU programs, a high-level business dialogue has been established between the Israeli and European business communities, and negotiations on free trade in the financial services sector are about to begin.

Whilst Israel celebrates its economic integration into the European Union and the American Southeast, it must never forget its neighbors in the Middle East. It is a tragic fact that trade in the Middle East is rare and minimal, not just between the Arab states and Israel, but even between the Arab countries themselves. Trade has the power to bring countries closer together, and the globally vital Middle Eastern region should not be an exception. Cooperation and integration have proven themselves to be major vehicles for peace around the world and should be brought to the Middle East, a region deeply in need of their pacific effects.

Article appeared in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on July 4th, 2008

It began shortly after I first landed in Atlanta to take my position as Consul General. Members of the local Jewish population took an interest in my background and started to visit Israel’s Druze communities. Many traveled to my northern Israeli home town of Isfiya, on Mount Carmel. People wanted to know: “what’s this new Druze Consul General ‘made of’” and, “who are these Druze anyway?”

It became a movement. Every other week I received letters and post cards from Jewish families around the Southeast. They had visited one of the Druze communities and were coming back with messages from my friends and loved ones.

For many of these travelers and those who hear their stories, their Druze experience has a profound impact on their lives. They are inspired to get involved in social and educational projects in the Druze community. One Jewish family got so exited after a visit to Horfesh, a Druze town in the Galilee, that the family helped the town build a library in one of the local schools. The Mayor of Horfash informed me that ORT USA was donating ten computerized “Smart Classes” to local Horfash schools; worth $500,000.

One might ask, “Why would Jewish Americans care about the Druze in Israel?” The answer is simple. The Israeli Druze are the mirror image of the American Jews. They are both strong minorities that work diligently to contribute positively and integrate into their country.

The movement for increased partnership between the Druze and American Jews has created strong bonds, in part because the Druze support the Jews and Israel politically. But, the support is more than merely political. The Druze are sacrificing hundreds of their own as Israeli solders, defending Israel and its people. Young Israeli Druze are fighting bravely on the frontlines in the war against terrorism and Islamic extremism.

Every year the Druze welcome thousands of American Jews visiting their villages as part of their “birthright” trip. These students enjoy the warm hospitality of the Druze in Carmel and the Galilee, and many of them remember the Druze part of the trip as the most interesting part of their tour. In return those young Jews are sharing their experiences and making the tiny Druze community very popular around the world. Just try to Google the word “Druze.”

American Jewish involvement with the Israeli Druze is nothing new. I, myself, am a product of American Jewish philanthropy. As a youth I went to my town’s local branch of BBYO, a branch that was supported by a generous American Jewish family. BBYO was one of the reasons that, years later, my town of Isfiya became known as the “town of Ambassadors.” The town had three Ambassadors, including myself, all simultaneously serving the State of Israel on three different continents.

My middle school education at the Leo Buck School in Haifa was the initiative of reform Rabbi Samuels. Rabbi Samuels decided that it was important to invest in the education of young Druze. Even my graduate studies at Harvard University were the product of American Jewish generosity, made possible by the Ohio-based Waxner Foundation. The Waxner Foundation has sent many of Israel’s government officials to Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, one of the best public management schools in the world.

The Druze, with the help of Jewish support, have chosen their path. They stand resolutely on the side of Israel. However, for other minority groups in Israel the future remains uncertain. Today, Israel’s Arab minority is experiencing a struggle between their Martin Luther Kings and their Malcolm X’s, between their moderates who, like the Druze, push for integration and their extremists who push for Palestinian nationalism within Israel, which leads only to violence and instability.

American Jews can make a difference in Israel by getting involved in the social well being of moderate minorities in Israel. By strengthening the ties between these groups and their own, American Jews will bolster the moderates and forever change the course of events in the Middle East. Through support and common understanding more groups can follow the path of the Israeli Druze. As it did with the Druze, this movement of cooperation will allow American Jews to make a constructive contribution to the strength and future of the State of Israel.

Article appeared in the Jewish Daily Forward on May 8th, 2008; and in the Atlanta Jewish Times on May 23rd, 2008

The modern history of the Middle East is filled with ideological intellectuals who aimed for great political ideas but instead produced some of the world’s cruelest dictatorships and militaristic regimes — the Baathists in Iraq, the Islamists in Iran and the pan-Arab socialists in Libya, among others. These intellectuals, detached from the reality and experience of their peoples, were an integral part of their countries’ revolutions, and it was they who tragically became the first victims of the oppression their revolutions unwittingly produced.

Terrifyingly, this history seems to have been lost on some Israeli Arab intellectuals. They have produced a report, “The Future Vision of the Palestinian Arabs in Israel,” that is supposedly based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but is simultaneously loaded with extreme Palestinian and Arab nationalistic symbols. This kind of anachronistic initiative, like all the Arab world’s previous well-intentioned revolutions, can produce only more bloodshed.

These Israeli Arab leaders and intellectuals should remember the first two civil wars fought in the Holy Land, in 1937 and again in 1948, if they want to help prevent a third Arab-Jewish war. The Arab arguments then were based on an uncompromising and violent ideology, and tragedy resulted for both Palestinians and Jews. The Israeli Arab arguments now are emphasizing differences rather than similarities, laying the foundation for separation instead of planting the hope for integration.

A majority of Israeli Arabs support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and want to remain part of Israeli society. The true issues for Israeli Arabs, therefore, are integration and equal opportunity, not nationalistic goals. And the only way for minorities to achieve equal rights is to share responsibility for building mutual trust with the majority — which, as America’s civil rights movement showed, can be achieved through only nonviolence and dialogue.

Martin Luther King Jr. repeated two messages in almost every speech he delivered: He called on his own people to remain committed to nonviolence, and he assured the white majority that blacks do not pose a threat and only want to enjoy the democratic principles upon which American democracy was founded. Moreover, King did not hesitate to criticize the weaknesses and mistakes of his own community.

Unfortunately, we do not see King’s example being followed today in the words and actions of many Israeli Arab intellectuals and leaders. Some of them take their people’s thirst for equality and color it with pan-Arab nationalism or, even worse, extreme Nasserist ideology that long ago disappeared from the Arab world. They reach out to other Arab countries and use them as loudspeakers to call the bluff on what they deride as the “supposedly democratic Israeli system” — but conveniently ignore that there is a total freedom and democracy vacuum in the Arab countries giving them a platform.

Other Arab leaders in Israel lead extremist Islamic movements, the kind that are banned in many Arab countries. The leaders of these movements do not seem to care that most Israeli Arab Muslims are quite moderate, or that at least one-third of Israeli Arabs are not Muslim at all. In essence, the Islamic state that they propose as the replacement for Israel is neither suitable nor desirable for the vast majority of Israeli Arabs.

Every Arab intellectual in Israel who claims to be moderate and truly committed to preventing future violence and catastrophe must openly and repeatedly declare that the end goal of equality for their people is full integration into the State of Israel. It is the integration effort that will bring Israeli Arabs the equality they deserve — not premature and divisive ideas like changing the flag, changing the national anthem, declaring cultural autonomy or canceling the law of return for Jews.

As Israeli Arabs become more integrated into society, the Jewish majority will feel more at ease tackling some of these symbolic demands. And as Israeli society as a whole becomes more integrated, Jews and Arabs will better be able to distinguish each community’s real needs from superficial ideological ones.

In the meantime, the role of the Israeli Jewish majority — and, for that matter, the American Jewish community — is to fully engage and encourage the integration of moderate Israeli Arab communities into the State of Israel. It is nothing short of tragic that communities which have enthusiastically sought integration — such as the Circassians, the Druze, and some Bedouins and Christians — are often ridiculed by extreme Arab intellectuals and leaders for their supposedly unrewarded sacrifice for the state.

I know from my own personal experience — and from the success of my Druze, Muslim and Christian colleagues in Israel’s Foreign Ministry — that integration and equality are real possibilities in Israel. The challenge before us today is to make this success possible, democratically and without violence, for every member of Israel’s moderate minorities.

Article appeared in the Jewish Daily Forward on May 18th, 2007