Mar 27/2014

Reflection on Freedom

Next week, Jews from all over the world will sit around the table for dinner and celebrate Passover, remembering the story of the exodus from Egypt and our becoming a free nation. In Israel Passover is also known as the holiday of spring as it brings with it revival and renewal- of the new season and nature blossoming. Our holiday of freedom also marks the renewal of our spirit; the Jewish people were liberated from slavery in Egypt and embarked on the journey to freedom and peoplehood, a journey that reached its peak with the establishment of the free Jewish State, the State of Israel in 1948.

We cherish these values that helped create us as a nation: values of freedom, liberty, the right to live your life freely, the right to pursue happiness and personal goals. These values are core values in our existence as a free nation and on the night of the Seder, when we commemorate the exodus it serves as a reminder for that. It’s a reminder that we shouldn’t take for granted those liberties that were given to us.

Therefore, while we celebrate our freedom, we shouldn’t forget the dark places in the world where freedom isn’t as widespread: in Gaza, the concept of religious freedom is not an existing one: Hamas is persecuting Christians in Gaza and violates the core principles of freedom we all cherish and believe in. Hamas continually targets innocent men and women, Israelis and Palestinians in illegal warfare. It’s no coincidence that Amnesty International accused Hamas of war crimes in its report this week. Hamas, supported by Iran, partnering with Hezbollah, stands in contrast to the values we all believe in, the values that keep us united: Americans and Israelis and the citizens of the world.

Next week when we celebrate Passover and our freedom, we will celebrate many other freedoms of different groups and we will remember as well the tyrants groups and countries such as Hamas and Iran that fight against these values. By standing strong, we will prevail. Freedom and the human spirit will prevail. That’s what the story of the exodus teaches us.

Shabbat Shalom,

Elad Strohmayer

Deputy Consul General Of Israel,

Mid-Atlantic Region

Mar 20/2015

Elections 2015

On March 17, Israeli citizens exercised their democratic right and voted for a new parliament and government. Final though unofficial results have been published and next week President Rivlin will assign the task of coalition building, kicking off a twenty-one day period for that to occur.

One hundred percent of the ballot boxes have already been counted and we can all see how many mandates each party received. But the one winner in these elections that emerges most clearly is Israel’s democracy.

Nearly 72% of eligible Israeli voters partook in this ultimate demonstration of civic engagement – young and old; secular, reform and orthodox; Ethiopians, Yemenites, people of Sephardic and of Ashkenazi origin; civilians, soldiers and yes, prison inmates; men and women; Jews, Christians and Arabs – all showed up at polling stations throughout the country to cast their ballot and take an active part in shaping their future and that of their country.

We can and should all be very proud of the fact that Israel is an Island of democracy with a rich and diverse culture and society, in a region that, basically, espouses neither democracy nor diversity.

If you think about it, Israel’s embrace of democracy in the first place is anything but trivial - during two thousand years of exile we were never able to govern ourselves fully as a people, nor had we the experience of living under a single form of governance. So for us to gather from the four corners of the earth and voluntarily coalesce under the most enlightened, yet one of the most complicated forms of governance, and refine and strengthen it, as we did, over the years – to me that is nothing short of miraculous.

Is it a perfect, fool-proof system? It is not. Did we get it 100% right? Not yet. Can we do better? Absolutely. After 67 years of existence, however, we are mature enough to acknowledge that we are not perfect and that we have made and continue making mistakes. We are open to constructive criticism, and embrace it as the only way to improve.

How strong is Israel’s democracy? The strength of any democracy should be measured, amongst other things, against the challenges that it faces, and it doesn’t get much more challenging than in the neighborhood that we live in. And so, I would argue that along with the United States of America – Israel is actually the strongest democracy on the face of this earth, and this week’s celebration of the democratic process in Israel underscored that very clearly.

Shabbat Shalom,

  

Yaron Sideman
Consul General Of Israel,
Mid-Atlantic Region

Mar 13/2015

Israel is the Only One Reconstructing Gaza

Last week top Israeli diplomats from the Foreign Ministry of Israel and top European diplomats from Germany, France, Britain, Spain and Italy met in Jerusalem. The Europeans went out of their way to praise Israel for their reconstruction efforts in Gaza. They praised Israel for both its robust cooperation with the UN Operated reconstruction mechanism and for its decision to more than double the water supplies to the Gaza Strip.

This exchange reveals a story fraught with a great deal of hypocrisy and one little known secret – to date, the only country in the entire world that is actively engaged, day in and day out, in the reconstruction of Gaza - is Israel.

None of the Arab states, who pledged generous sums of money towards Gaza’s reconstruction, have made an actual down payment. International donor countries have been hesitant to contribute into an area controlled by the Hamas terrorist organization. Furthermore Fatah views Hamas as a nemesis, and therefore has refrained from exercising its responsibilities, and Egypt has all but sealed its border crossing with Gaza and has destroyed the vast majority of smuggling tunnels that led from the Sinai into Gaza.

The only operating border crossing that delivers goods to Gaza 24/7, and given the above described reality -  in much larger volumes than ever before – is the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel.

The reason why Israel hasn’t followed suit with the rest of the world, and either closed its borders or its wallet is because, unlike Hamas, it cares about the welfare and wellbeing of the residents of Gaza. Unlike Hamas, Israel does not want the residents of Gaza to suffer.

Those who claim that Israel is the main obstacle to Gaza reconstruction are, therefore, either completely blind to the facts on the ground or are hypocritical. Despite valid concerns that construction material aimed at benefitting the Gaza population will be diverted for terrorist purposes, as it has been in the past, Israel is still committed to and supportive of reconstruction in Gaza, and is actively working towards that aim.

Shabbat Shalom,

  

Yaron Sideman
Consul General Of Israel,
Mid-Atlantic Region

Mar 06/2015

International Women’s day and Israel

This weekend, on March 8^th, we celebrate International Women’s Day. While there are many promising developments to share regarding women’s empowerment in Israel, I wish to devote this column to steps Israel has taken in promoting Women’s rights and gender equality around the world.

Israel has long viewed women's empowerment as a critical driver of economic development. A clear manifestation of this commitment can be seen in the work conducted by the Mount Carmel International Training Center, a central program of MASHAV, Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation.

Israel‘s fourth Prime Minister, Golda Meir, was the world's fourth woman to hold the highest office in her nation. In 1961, Prime Minister Meir established the Mount Carmel International Training Center in Haifa, the first training center of its kind, to assist in the training of women engaged in community work in the newly emerging states in Africa and Asia.

To this day, with a robust focus on capacity building, through training programs ranging from health to agriculture, from business entrepreneurship to community leadership, the center has empowered women from over 150 developing countries. Many of the center’s programs were created thanks to the cooperation of international and national organizations, such as UN Women.

Alongside training programs, the center holds the biannual International Conference for Women Leaders. Since 1955, women leaders from around the world, including members of parliaments and cabinets, UN officials, social activists and private sector figures convene in Israel to discuss gender related issues. This year’s conference focuses on the creation and implementation of a development agenda to achieve gender equality through economic empowerment.

As we look back with a degree of satisfaction at all that has been achieved, we must not lose sight of all that that still needs to be done to improve the status of women across the globe. Horrible violence against women is taking place in regions of crisis, especially in places where extremist groups such as ISIS and Boko-Haram are terrorizing people. In other societies, women are deprived of economic rights and therefore are significantly less financially secure than men.

The responsibility for alleviating these hardships lies on our shoulders. Israel firmly believes that capacity building is crucial for sustainable women empowerment in developing countries; that equipping women with the entrepreneurial tools to start their own businesses will spell freedom for them, and strengthen their country’s economy.

Empowering women to assume leadership roles in their respective communities and countries can assist in defeating extremism and promoting dialogue and peace. By assisting women, who have been discriminated against for generations, to recognize their power to lead the charge for change, should be a main objective of the international community.

Years before establishing The Mount Carmel Center, Golda Meir said: "Pessimism is a luxury that a Jew can never allow himself.” We cannot allow ourselves even one moment of pessimism. Together, all nations need to take responsibility and work for the advance women throughout the world.

Israel recognizes this heavy responsibility. 

Shabbat Shalom,

  

Yaron Sideman
Consul General Of Israel,
Mid-Atlantic Region