24 | JANUARY 9 • 2020 

Jews in the D

STATE OF MICHIGAN

Jocelyn Benson on Her
Recent Trip To Israel

S

ecretary of State Jocelyn 
Benson spoke with the JN 
about the recent trip she 
took to Israel Dec. 15-20 as a 
part of a bipartisan delegation 
of Secretary of 
State participants. 
The Israel 
trip was orga-
nized by Project 
Interchange, a 
program of the 
American Jewish Committee, 
in partnership with the local 
JCRC/AJC. She said Project 
Interchange ensured they saw 
and understood different per-
spectives.
“Those are relationships 
that will bear lots of fruit for 
years to come,” she said. “I felt 
like I learned a new language 
while I was there by gaining 
an in-depth understanding 
of the history with economic 
leaders, military leaders, polit-
ical leaders and thought lead-
ers. It was truly a wonderful, 
life-changing experience.
“It’
s certainly undeniable 
that being over there gives you 
a sense of exactly why the U.S. 
role in this region is so histor-
ic and necessary,” she said. 
JN: Were there any Detroit- 
or Michigan-based angles to 
your trip?
Benson: Yes, the number 
of people I met who have a 
connection to Michigan, were 
from Michigan and who have 
family in Michigan, from both 
the Palestinian and Israeli 
communities, was astounding. 
Our tour guide from the Peres 
Center for Innovation was 
from Ludington.

The relationship Michigan 
has with Israel and the history 
there is parallel and very anal-
ogous to what our country has 
with Israel. It’
s no coincidence 
I’
m not the only Michigan 
political leader who has visited 
Israel in the past few months. 
That’
s reflective of the ties 
within Michigan. Michigan’
s 
presence is known there. The 
relationship is very clear. 
I would not be surprised if 
there was a direct flight from 
Detroit to Tel Aviv with all 
the travel and connections 
between the two areas and 
regions.
 JN: How did Israeli innova-
tion play into the trip? 
Benson: What I saw in 
Israel is the power of for-
ward-thinking. We went to 
the Peres Center and I was 
really astounded by how the 
government investment, atten-
tion and focus on innovation, 
as was led by Peres, has really 
and can really [further inno-
vation]. And frankly, [inno-
vation] is really necessary to 
position any city, state, region 
and country as an econom-
ic influence — if not global 
superpower.
That focus on innovation, 
that focus on creating jobs 
through empowering others 
to be innovative and create 
businesses supporting small 
business … all of that is 
something we need from our 
state leaders and we need 
from our federal leaders 
to position our country to 
have the influence it has had 
throughout its history. 

ADAM FINKEL CONTRIBUTING WRITER 

Benson

24725 West 12 Mile – Ste. 110
Southfield, MI 48034
1-248-945-1111

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