It is an old adage that things
change quickly in Israel. That was
evident when we started our day with the Minister of Tourism, who just before
our meeting had announced that he was taking a leave of absence from politics
and would not be running in the upcoming election.
From there we went to a
factory where we met a visionary CEO, Daniel Birnbaum, who has the energy,
passion, drive and enthusiasm of Steve Jobs and Howard Schultz of Starbucks
combined. He took a company on the verge
of bankruptcy and turned it around to be extremely profitable. We toured the Sodastream factory which is
committed to putting out a quality product which is environmentally sound and
goes out of its way to employ Arabs and have exemplary employment
practices. We were all blown away and
impressed by what we saw and heard and the contribution it is making to
Israel's economy.
Ron Dermer, special adviser to
the Prime Minister, is to Netanyahu what David Axelrod is to Obama and Karl Rove
was to Bush. In his meeting with us he
spoke about the Pillar of Defense operation and said the success of Iron Dome,
as well as the international support for Israel, saved lives and shortened the
war. He spoke about the Gaza operation,
the UN vote and other policy and security matters. In the course of an extended open-ended
freewheeling discussion we raised issues pertaining to promoting tolerance for
the streams of Judaism and rolling back infringements on religious expression
by non-Orthodox. The inability to
further this openness and other options for Jewish religious expression is
thwarted by the Israeli political system which caters to the small parties and
disproportionally increases their influence.
More tomorrow.
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