By David Bramzon
LA JOLLA, California — Israel’s Consul General David Siegel addressed a large gathering at Congregation Beth El on Saturday, Sept. 10, during morning services. He was invited to speak on behalf of the San Diego Israel Advocacy Leadership Forum; a coalition of 15 non-profit organizations that have Israel education or advocacy as part of their mission and is convened by the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of San Diego County.
Based in Los Angeles, Siegel is the senior most member of the Israeli government for the Southwest region of the United States. He is American-born and educated, but spent most of his life, including army service, in Israel. He was most recently the Chief of Staff for Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister and began his term as the head of the Israeli consulate just three weeks ago.
The consul-general began his discussion with an update on the recent attack on the Israeli Embassy in Cairo, Egypt. Although the attacking mob breached the interior of the embassy, thanks to the intervention of Egyptian Commandos the Israeli diplomats and staff were safely evacuated.
Siegel praised the United States’ vital support to avert a major diplomatic crisis and save the lives of the Israeli embassy staff. He stressed that Israel would continue to adhere to the peace treaty with Egypt and hopes to send its Ambassador back to Cairo soon.
He also stressed that direct negotiations are the only means to a two-state solution and that it is the wrong course of action on the part of the Palestinians to attempt unilateral declaration of statehood via the United Nations.
Despite the potential threats to Israel from the political unrest in the region, and the threat of a nuclear Iran, Siegel said there were many of the positive events occurring in Israel. He spoke of how Arabs and Jews already coexist in peace in many parts of Israel. He encouraged the public to embrace Israel’s extraordinary people and their stories to help highlight Israel beyond the conflict. In particular, Siegel described “Save a Child’s Heart,” a medical program in which Israeli physicians perform free heart surgeries on children from around the world, half of whom are Palestinian, and provide training for Palestinian physicians
The consul-general answered questions from the audience dealing with what questioners called the “unfair” perception of Israel in the media, relations between Israel and Turkey, and the recently discovered natural gas reserves in Israel.
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Bramzon, a member of the San Diego Jewish community, attended the presentation by Consul General Siegel at Congregation Beth El.
Nicely written article on a salient subject. I especially like the part about Save-A-Child’s-Heart….too many people think of Israel as nothing but a war zone, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. More people need to hear about the amazing positive things Israel and Israelis are doing for the world!