Ehud Danoch, the consul general at the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles, made his first good-will visit to Arizona on Aug. 23.
"I am here to try to bring people closer to Israel, whether it's the Jewish community, the African-American community, the Latin American community or other communities," Danoch said of the trip.
He was also here to talk about Israeli trade and political matters with the Jewish community and civic leaders both Jewish and non-Jewish. He spoke to the Jewish community at Congregation Beth Israel in Scottsdale that evening.
Noting the similarities between the physical and high-tech business environments of Israel and Arizona, he said, "We're trying to strengthen the economic relationship between Israel and Phoenix, Tuscon and the state of Arizona."
To that end, he said, he had talked with Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon that morning. "We discussed high technology and possible delegations coming in from Israel to Arizona and from Arizona to Israel, and we discussed solar energy issues, economic issues and economic relations."
Fluent in Spanish as well as English and Hebrew, Danoch also spoke to Hispanic media in the state. "It was a good opportunity to expose a little bit of what's happening in Israel right now to the Spanish community."
With the United States being such a large country, he explained, Israel has nine consul generals here, each with his or her own jurisdiction. His encompasses Southern California up to San Francisco and the states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Wyoming, Utah and Hawaii. Danoch, who previously served as chief of staff to Israel's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Silvan Shalom, became consul general in October 2004.
The consul generals are based in large cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Atlanta, he said, "in order to work on many significant issues: economic relations, tourism and political issues."
Danoch was in the Valley the same day the news came that settlers and resisters had been removed from the last of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank in Israel's disengagement from the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank.
He called the withdrawal a "huge sacrifice" that Israel is making in the quest for peace, one that "tears us from inside."
"You saw the pictures in the past 10 days of the evacuation of 8,500 Israelis from their homes, places where they've lived for the past 35 years," he said.
Citing public opinion polls that showed about 65 percent of Israelis agreeing with the disengagement, he said there is now a huge expectation in Israel that "after the disengagement, the Palestinians would want to restart the peace process, would want also to grow into a better future, to start negotiations and to implement the 'road map,'" he said, referring to the plan released in April 2003 by the Quartet - the United States, European Union, Russia and the United Nations - that calls for an independent Palestinian state coexisting with Israel.
"We expect Abu Mazen (Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas) to implement the road map," Danoch said. "It's important to understand we are talking about a moral issue. Israel is not asking for anything. Israel is not asking, 'Give us land! Give us money! Give us the skies!' No. We're asking your (Palestinian Authority) chairman to dismantle the terrorist organizations, to stop the incitement, to collect the illegal weapons, to create reforms, transparency, build institutions for their benefit and for our benefit."
Asked whether he thought average Palestinians backed terrorism, Danoch said, "When you take the Palestinian people living in those territories, 50 percent are unemployed. I believe that they also want progress. I believe that they want peace. I believe that they want prosperity. They want to wake up in the morning and go to work and send their kids to school and go to work rather than join another terrorist organization, and Israel is willing to do almost anything in order to assist them, to help them to prosper, but after all, it's their decision and how they want to see the future."
The future for Israel is bright, he said.
"Because we have a difficult situation in the Middle East when it comes to foreign relations, with the Palestinians, for example, people tend to focus on the Palestinian conflict rather than to understand what's beyond the conflict, what Israel has to offer to the world," Danoch said.
"Tourism is on the rise and hotels are full in Israel because people understand that there is a window of opportunity," he said. "Many investors are approaching us to get more information about business opportunities in Israel."
Israel, he said, is second only to California's Silicon Valley as a center of high technology. Israel has the third-most companies listed on the NASDAQ exchange, behind only the United States and Canada, he said.
"We are 4,000 start-up companies in Israel, and AOL, IBM, Microsoft, many international companies, decided to locate a branch in Israel," he said, because Israel can offer a favorable business environment, the necessary high-tech infrastructure and a highly skilled work force.
Intel Corp., which has a strong presence in the Valley, recently opened an Israeli facility employing 4,000 people, Danoch said.
In addition, he wants to forge a stronger connection between the Jewish community in his jurisdiction and Israel, especially among the young. "We want to bring people to Israel to learn more about Israel and about our tradition, who we are, where do we come from and where are we going."
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