American Council For World Jewry

Council Announces NEW Science Diplomacy Initiative

Monday, 11 June 2012

SCIENCE DIPLOMACY INITIATIVE TO PROMOTE HIGH TECH GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES AND CREATE GOODWILL WITH ISRAEL’S PARTNERS

JUNE 11, 2012 New York City -- Jack Rosen, Chairman of the American Council for World Jewry, announced today a bold, new effort -- the Science Diplomacy Initiative -- to facilitate expanded opportunities between Israel’s thriving high tech community and municipalities around the globe, leading to greater dialog and goodwill between Israel and the international community.

Rosen cited the extraordinary success of last month’s 28th annual International Mayor Conference held in Israel, and the interest shown in the initiative by virtually every mayor attending.  The five-day Conference served as the kick-off event for the Initiative, and gave the mayors a chance to provide valuable input as the program expands.

“The 37 mayors, representing every continent, came to Israel for an opportunity to see first-hand how Israel’s cutting edge industries are developing products that cities and towns everywhere want in the areas of security and cyber security, medical innovation and educational tools,” Rosen said.  They were uniformly impressed by the practical applications that are coming on-line, and they went home thinking about how high tech products can address important needs in their communities.  It was extremely gratifying to see the close interaction between the mayors and Israeli officials and business leaders, and the new channels of communication that are mutually beneficial.”

Mayors from six American cities were joined by leaders from a diverse mix such as Italy, the Philippines, Angola, Bulgaria, Venezuela, Ethiopia, Hungary, New Zealand, Turkey, Ghana, Latvia, Uruguay, Poland and dozens of others.

“In the weeks and months ahead, the Council will work closely with the mayors and their economic development staffs to identify which of their priority projects can make use of our Science Diplomacy Initiative.  We won’t limit it to those cities that were represented at the Mayors Conference.  I expect when others learn about what we are offering, and how we can facilitate and generate exciting opportunities, we’ll have many more forward-thinking mayors knocking on our door,” Rosen added.

The American Council for World Jewry works to address threats to Israel and Jewish communities around the globe, and to build bridges to political and business leaders everywhere who share the goal of ensuring the safety and security of Jews everywhere.

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Israel shows off its homeland security technologies to international visitors

Tuesday, 15 May 2012

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israel’s security technologies were on display as the country hosted two separate international contingents.

An Interpol European Regional Conference brought 110 senior law enforcement officers from 49 countries to Tel Aviv, while a homeland security conference drew 37 mayors from two dozen worldwide cities to sites throughout Israel last week.

"Israel has been forced to overcome difficult circumstances, including war and terror, in order to survive," said Alfred Vanderpuije, mayor of the Ghana capital of Accra, following a visit to Elbit Systems, a defense electronics company based in Haifa. "And this has put the Israelis in a unique situation to develop security technologies."

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