16 | NOVEMBER 11 • 2021 

OUR COMMUNITY

PHOTO COURTESY OF CONSULATE GENERAL OF ISRAEL TO THE MIDWEST

for more advanced manufactur-
ing. Although Israel does not 
produce cars, it is a beautiful 
hub of a smart mobility innova-
tion. There are so many Israeli 
startups and companies in this 
respect and the connections 
already. Both General Motors 
and Ford have research and 
development centers in Israel, for 
example. 
I hope to be of assistance in 
bridging the cultural divide 
between Israelis and folks in the 
U.S. There are some protocol 
differences Israelis need to know 
about, which we hope to facili-
tate. 

Q: Any other priorities?
 Like our or current Foreign 
Minister Yair Lapid, I have 
two strong messages regarding 
Israeli-U.S. relations. The first is 
bipartisanship is back. The new 
government is going to invest a 
lot in cultivating its relationships 
with both the Democratic and 
Republican parties. We see great 
coordination, communication 
and cooperation between the 
new government in Israel and 
the relatively new administration 
in the U.S.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett 
had his first White House visit 
about a month ago. It was very 
successful. We were so encour-
aged by the words of President 
Joe Biden after the meeting. 
Biden referred to the fact that 
this is the most diverse gov-
ernment in the history of Israel 
— something we’re very proud 
of. We are also encouraged by 
Biden’s strong commitment to 
the security of Israel and specif-
ically to continuous cooperation 
on the Iron Dome and his total 
commitment to guarantee that 
Iran never acquires nuclear mili-
tary capabilities.
We had a strong week in 
Washington, D.C. Our foreign 

minister met with his colleague, 
Secretary of State Antony 
Blinken, and Vice President 
Kamala Harris, which was great. 
He also took part in a mini-sum-
mit, organized by Secretary 
Blinken, with the United Arab 
Emirates. This was a very strong 
signal to the commitment of the 
new administration to continue 
the Abraham Accords and to 
bring into the tent new Arab 
states, perhaps from the Gulf 
area or East Africa. We hope 
to hear some good news in the 
coming months on that respect.

Q: What makes the Abraham 
Accords a foundation for build-
ing a greater coalition?
 It’s an agreement that comes 
out of a strong sense of real part-
nership between Arab countries 
and Israel. We have had peace 
with Egypt and with Jordan 
for many years now. It is a very 
important peace … but more of 
a peace between governments 
and less of a peace between 
peoples. This is very different 
with the new peace agreements 
because it is first and foremost 
peace between the peoples. 
Thousands of Israelis flew to 
the Emirates. We have Emirati 
students all over Israel, which is 
super exciting. They are studying 
Hebrew, sciences, technology, 
innovation. It is so amazing to 
see Emirati students wearing 
traditional clothes together with 
Israelis at our universities.
The level of enthusiasm in 
these new countries is spectacu-
lar. They really believe in peace 
between the peoples. It’s not just 
for the sake of security. So this is 
something that is very new, very 
unique and very encouraging for 
us because that means that it’s 
going to last.

CHALLENGES
Q: In your opinion, what are the 

biggest challenges that Israel faces 
right now?
 Our biggest challenges are 
internal. First there’s COVID, of 
course. This is something that is 
not unique to Israel. We’re doing 
quite well right now. The trend 
is very positive. That means that 
the gates of Israel will probably 
open very soon making it much 
easier to enter. 
Secondly, we have had an 
unprecedented lack of stability 
in Israel for two or more years 
because we held three elections 
during that time. We had no 
state budget for more than two 
years, and that had a serious 
effect, both for the society and 
economy of Israel. 
Now we have an opportunity 
for change because we have a 
new diverse government. For the 
first time in the history of Israel, 
there is an Arab Muslim party 
that is part of the coalition. The 
government recently approved a 
bill that will provide slightly less 
than $10 billion to support the 
Arab sectors in Israel to facilitate 
access to higher education, to 
employment, to innovation, to 
infrastructure and to housing. 
This is something that probably 
should have been done before, 
but I’m very excited that this 
government is doing it right now. 
I believe that it’s going to bring 
very positive change, not only to 

the Arab population of Israel, but 
to all of Israel. 
Then we have some regional 
challenges. The biggest one is, of 
course, Iran, which is a source of 
instability. Not only is its nuclear 
program a serious strategic threat 
to Israel, but to the whole region. 
Through its proxies, Hezbollah 
and Hamas, Iran creates per-
manent instability in the region. 
This is a source of great concern 
for all the moderate Arab coun-
tries. The Israeli government is 
determined to make sure Iran 
never gets nuclear weapons, and 
we’re thankful to the United 
States administration for its com-
mitment on that as well. 

Q: How does Israel feel about the 
U.S. returning to the negotiations 
table with Iran?
 Israel is not against the U.S. 
negotiating with Iran. The ques-
tion is: What will they get out 
of this negotiation? We want to 
know that Iran never has access 
to nuclear weapons — not just 10 
or 15 years, but never. We want 
a guarantee that any agreement 
with Iran deals with all the major 
questions: its ballistic capabilities, 
its capabilities to launch missiles, 
its capabilities to destabilize the 
region by nurturing terrorist 
organizations across the borders 
of Israel with its neighbors. 
Hezbollah today has more 

PHOTO COURTESY OF CONSULATE GENERAL OF ISRAEL TO THE MIDWEST

Yinam Cohen, 
Consul General 
of Israel to the 
Midwest. 

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