We are back in New York City and happy to be home. Dorothy was right; there’s no place like it, even Jerusalem.
Today is Julie’s birthday and I mention that because, for me, the trip to Israel had so much to do with her. In five years of marriage, we have been successful in knitting our [...]
On a day in which we met personally and were photographed with the president of Israel, Shimon Peres, and the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Julie and I might fairly have expected to carry around something they said as the banner for the day. Not so.
Which is not to say that both leaders aren’t impressive, and extremely skilled at delivering their messages about the development arc of Israel and its place in the world.
Peres, in particular, exudes the sort of statesmanship that we crave in our leaders – and an energy level that is remarkable for an 85-year-old man. Though he is technically Israel’s head of state, he occupies what is largely a ceremonial position but it is clear that his influence as the last of Israel’s original generation of Israeli leaders (think Ben Gurion, Levi Eshkol, Golda) exceeds the power of his office.
He is introduced by Rick Perry, the Governor of Texas, who is not without his own atmosphere as a politician. A former air force pilot who is the longest-serving governor of the second-most populous state in the union, he draws interesting parallels between Israel and Texas: their spirit and resilient independence, their semi-arid climates and the security challenges both states face. Rick (as he is known to all of us on this tour) explains that Texas borders Mexico, where drug cartels are rampant and where 1,600 murders were committed in the state of Chihuahua (the capital of which is Juarez, the sister city of El Paso) alone last year.
This is a very interesting group of people with whom Julie and I are traveling in Israel. It includes a sitting governor (Rick Perry of Texas), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee (Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida), a leading Democrat in the Texas state legislature, the CEOs of two NYSE-listed companies, the chancellor of the University of Texas system and a former US diplomat.
Most notably, perhaps, several venture capitalists also are part of the group, including the elected chair of the National Venture Capital Association. Sitting with Terry and his daughter at dinner last evening not only was a chance to renew his acquaintance (The Weiser Group represented NVCA for nine years), it wound up illuminating what we were to see today.
It has been 16 years since I last heard that greeting at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv and it felt good to hear it again.
I can only imagine how much has changed here since 1993, when I came with my family to celebrate Brian’s Bar Mitzvah. One change is to the airport itself, which has gone from being positively “Third World” to a bright, modern facility with free luggage carts (unlike O’Hare and LaGuardia). Another is the road to Jerusalem, which is now four lanes (I remember two), has no potholes, great signage and plenty of traffic. Good to know they were working on things while I was away.