Announcements
Upcoming Events
- 20.06.2012 - 20.06.2012 | 19.30 Screening of Little Simico’s Big Fantasy (HaFan...
- 19.07.2012 - 19.07.2012 | 19.30 Screening of Salsa Tel Aviv
- 23.08.2012 - 23.08.2012 | 19.30 Screening of The Policeman (HaShoter Azolay)
About the Consulate
The Consulate General of Israel serves the Southwest Region of the United States: Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arkansas and Louisiana.
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Useful Links
- Published in the Wall Street Journal by Michael Oren This year Israel...
- Israel and the United Nations are cooperating on development, a central top...
- ...
- ERETZ-ISRAEL [(Hebrew) - the Land of Israel, Palestine] was the birthplac...
- Cabinet communique (Communicated by the Cabinet Secretariat) At the week...
Published in the Wall Street Journal by Michael Oren
This year Israel is celebrating . . . a series of accomplishments that have surely exceeded the expectations of its most visionary founders. It is one of the most powerful small nations in history. . . . [It] has tamed an arid wilderness [and] welcomed 1.25 million immigrants. . . . The Israelis themselves did the fighting, the struggling, the sacrificing in order to perform the greatest feat of all—forging a new society . . . in which pride and confidence have replaced the despair engendered by age-long suffering and persecution.
So Life magazine described Israel on the occasion of its 25th birthday in May 1973. In a 92-page special issue, "The Spirit of Israel," the magazine extolled the Jewish state as enlightened, robustly democratic and hip, a land of "astonishing achievement" that dared "to dream the dream and make that dream come alive."
Life told the story of Israel's birth from the Bible through the Holocaust and the battle for independence. "The Arabs' bloodthirsty threats," the editors wrote, "lend a deadly seriousness to the vow: Never Again." Four pages documented "Arab terrorist attacks" and the three paragraphs on the West Bank commended Israeli administrators for respecting "Arab community leaders" and hiring "tens of thousands of Arabs." The word "Palestinian" scarcely appeared.
There was a panoramic portrayal of Jerusalem, described as "the focus of Jewish prayers for 2,000 years" and the nucleus of new Jewish neighborhoods. Life emphasized that in its pre-1967 borders, Israel was "a tiny, parched, scarcely defensible toe-hold." The edition's opening photo shows a father embracing his Israeli-born daughter on an early "settlement," a testament to Israel's birthright to the land.
On 14 May 2012, Israel and the UN signed a special agreement – Memorandum of Understanding between Israel's Agency for International Development Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MASHAV) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) – to increase cooperation in food security, water management, women empowerment and industrial development in developing countries. For Israel, this is an additional step in creating international partnerships in the area of development, demonstrating recognition and appreciation of Israel's abilities and contributions to the world.
The signing ceremony took place in the presence of the Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Rafael Barak. Signing on behalf of the UN was the Director General of UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization), Dr. Kandeh Yumkella. The head of MASHAV (Israel's Agency for International Development Cooperation, MFA), Deputy Director General Daniel Carmon, signed the agreement on behalf of Israel.
ERETZ-ISRAEL [(Hebrew) - the Land of Israel, Palestine] was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books.
After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom.
Impelled by this historic and traditional attachment, Jews strove in every successive generation to re-establish themselves in their ancient homeland. In recent decades they returned in their masses. Pioneers, ma'pilim [(Hebrew) - immigrants coming to Eretz-Israel in defiance of restrictive legislation] and defenders, they made deserts bloom, revived the Hebrew language, built villages and towns, and created a thriving community controlling its own economy and culture, loving peace but knowing how to defend itself, bringing the blessings of progress to all the country's inhabitants, and aspiring towards independent nationhood.
In the year 5657 (1897), at the summons of the spiritual father of the Jewish State, Theodore Herzl, the First Zionist Congress convened and proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to national rebirth in its own country.
This right was recognized in the Balfour Declaration of the 2nd November, 1917, and re-affirmed in the Mandate of the League of Nations which, in particular, gave international sanction to the historic connection between the Jewish people and Eretz-Israel and to the right of the Jewish people to rebuild its National Home.
The catastrophe which recently befell the Jewish people - the massacre of millions of Jews in Europe - was another clear demonstration of the urgency of solving the problem of its homelessness by re-establishing in Eretz-Israel the Jewish State, which would open the gates of the homeland wide to every Jew and confer upon the Jewish people the status of a fully privileged member of the comity of nations.
Survivors of the Nazi holocaust in Europe, as well as Jews from other parts of the world, continued to migrate to Eretz-Israel, undaunted by difficulties, restrictions and dangers, and never ceased to assert their right to a life of dignity, freedom and honest toil in their national homeland.
In the Second World War, the Jewish community of this country contributed its full share to the struggle of the freedom- and peace-loving nations against the forces of Nazi wickedness and, by the blood of its soldiers and its war effort, gained the right to be reckoned among the peoples who founded the United Nations.
On the 29th November, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish State in Eretz-Israel; the General Assembly required the inhabitants of Eretz-Israel to take such steps as were necessary on their part for the implementation of that resolution. Thi
This right is the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign State.s recognition by the United Nations of the right of the Jewish people to establish their State is irrevocable.
ACCORDINGLY WE, MEMBERS OF THE PEOPLE'S COUNCIL, REPRESENTATIVES OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF ERETZ-ISRAEL AND OF THE ZIONIST MOVEMENT, ARE HERE ASSEMBLED ON THE DAY OF THE TERMINATION OF THE BRITISH MANDATE OVER ERETZ-ISRAEL AND, BY VIRTUE OF OUR NATURAL AND HISTORIC RIGHT AND ON THE STRENGTH OF THE RESOLUTION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, HEREBY DECLARE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A JEWISH STATE IN ERETZ-ISRAEL, TO BE KNOWN AS THE STATE OF ISRAEL.
(Communicated by the Cabinet Secretariat)
At the weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday, 13 May 2012:
1. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the following remarks:
"Indeed, this is our 150th Cabinet meeting, with very many accomplishments and activity behind us. But this is also the first meeting of the
broad unity government, with many tasks yet before us. On behalf of all ministers, I welcome Shaul Mofaz as a government minister and welcome the Kadima MKs that have joined the coalition.
In the talks between us, we set four main goals for the broad unity government: Changing the Tal Law, changing the electoral system, passing the budget and advancing the peace process.
This week, an inter-party team will be formed to present us with alternatives to the Tal Law. By the end of July, we will pass a law that will divide the burden on a more equal, more egalitarian and more just basis for all Israelis, Jewish and Arab alike, without setting public against public.
Soon, we will also establish a team to lead the change in the electoral system and we will begin to formulate a responsible – I emphasize responsible – budget. We have done so up until now and we will continue to do so in the future, in the manner that has well maintained the Israeli economy in the face of the unprecedented global economic crisis.
Last night, my special envoy, attorney Isaac Molho, met with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas. I hope that we will be able to advance the dialogue between the sides in order to resume the diplomatic talks.
Today, we will submit to the Government a comprehensive plan to improve the absorption of Ethiopian immigrants. I have personally met with their representatives, from the religious leaders to young people and I am deeply impressed. I have met with them several times; the Director-General has met with them dozens of times. I was impressed by two things: One, is that there is a new generation, younger, energetic, active, that takes the initiative, with achievements and aspirations, and especially with the willingness to be integrated into Israeli society. I was also struck by the distress; there is considerable distress.
Now I say this despite the fact that our Government has done more than any other to ease this distress and help Ethiopian immigrants integrate into Israeli society. First of all, we decided to stop the unacceptable practice of schools for Ethiopians only and, in a gradual process, there will not be any more schools in Israel in which the majority of pupils are Ethiopian. We are bringing this phenomenon to an end.
Today, we will approve increasing housing grants to Ethiopian immigrants and their children and we will improve the ability of these immigrants to be absorbed into the labor market.
I think that in all of these steps, we are delivering several messages to the Israeli public. One, there is no place for racism in Israel, this is unacceptable, there is no place for racism and there is no place for the tolerance of racism. And perhaps most importantly, the Ethiopian immigrants, some of whom and some of whose parents, marched through Africa and overcame deadly dangers, to our sorrow, some did not arrive, they all set out in order to reach Zion. They are our flesh and we are bound to them in mutual responsibility. They are part of us, they are fully equal."
Israel’s Minister of Energy and Water Resources in Houston
The Minister of Energy and Water Resources, Minister Uzi Landau, will be visiting the Houston region this week. Dr. Landau’s visit demonstrates the strong ties Israel has with Texas, and both entities progressive innovation toward energy development.
The relationship between Israel and Texas has produced many successes and continues to thrive. Texas grown Noble Energy was one of the first independent producers to explore the Gulf of Mexico. Nobel has shaped the energy industry, and continues to do so by partnering with Israel.
Nobel Energy has been functioning in the Mediterranean Sea, off the shore of Israel, for over a decade. Noble has a 47% interest in the offshore natural gas production in Israel and sales volumes have increased as the country’s power and demand and pipeline infrastructure have expanded tremendously. A string of successful wells in various parts of the Mediterranean, including Leviathan, have resulted in several discoveries. The Leviathan represents the largest exploration success in Noble Energy’s history.
Dr. Landau will be meeting with industry leaders such as esteemed leads and representatives of ConocoPhillips, Baker Hughes, Caterpillar, FMC Corporation, and Kiewit Offshore Services.
While in Houston, the Minister will be giving attend and speak at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC). He will also be giving a public with a lecture at the Baker Institute and the World Affairs Council egarding addressing the geopolitics of gas discoveries in the Middle East.
