I thank the Chairman and the members for coming to listen. It is a great honour for me as a representative of the State of Israel to be here in the Irish Parliament. It is my first time in Ireland. It is an illuminating experience to meet the Irish, understand the different opinions, hear the different critical assessments of how they view our conflict and present who we are here in Ireland. I came in honour of the 60th anniversary. Sixty as an age both for people and for nations is a time of celebration and reflection. On our 60th anniversary Israel is very much in celebration and reflection. I would like to talk about how we see ourselves in 60 years and what we see as our main challenges along the road.
Israel is 60 and in many ways against all odds when established in 1948, has grown into a thriving modern Western democracy in the Middle East. We have in our state an immigrant state which is made up of such diverse people, societies and differences of opinion. We have majorities and minorities. We have people who come from around the world. We have within our communities a significant Israeli Arab minority comprising more than 20% of the population. We have Jews from all around the world and we continue to grow and change. For us it is amazing to see how over 60 years we have grown from a very small country of what was at the beginning 650,000 Jews to a population today that is 7 million strong. We can be proud of the immigration, of the arrival of the people, of building a state, of providing employment and education, of growing in such a way and of having today a modern Western economy, which is at the forefront of so many different aspects in the world.
I will remind members of a few of these things. I hope it will not happen here inside this building, but it happens in so many other places. Israel invented the cell phone. It rings everywhere for which some people are not so grateful. We are at the forefront of many of the applications to do with communications and computers. Most of the research and development centres in the world of high technology in communications and computers are all based in Israel. We are a very small country. We do not have any natural resources. We do not have oil. We do not have water like Ireland does. However, we have the human resource and I believe we use it to the utmost.
We are trying to find different solutions today to problems relating to water which is so important to us in the Middle East. I know it is an exception — I have been here for two days and it has not rained yet. Everybody tells me it rains in Ireland — it has not yet done so in my time here. For us in the Middle East — for Israel, for the Palestinians, for Jordan and all the countries around us — the water issue is such an important one. We are at the forefront of water technology and how we can utilise water. I know people in Ireland do not necessarily know arid areas. We are researching how to make arid areas cultivated. These are the types of technologies we are exporting to the world, to African countries and to Asian countries. We are trying to bring these better technologies and ideas out to the world.
It is also a time for reflection. Here we are and we are 60 years old. We are a strong, bold and incredibly opinionated country in our 60th year. Yet we still have very major challenges we are trying to address. I would like to pose them briefly for members of the committee and I would be very interested to hear the remarks and comments they make.
Israel in our 60th year is a society trying to face internal domestic issues in a slightly different way than we did in the past. Some of that has to do with the fact that it is not possible as a society that is only 60 years old to pertain to everything within it. We are an immigrant society. We have gaps within our society. We have an incredibly diverse society. I would like to point out three issues that Israeli domestic society is trying to address in our 60th year, to take out from under the table and put on the table to show how we want to see ourselves 20 or 40 years from now.
One such issue that is common to most Western countries is the growing gap between rich and poor. Israel has been in economic boom. We have amazing statistics which reveal how we are growing. Companies have bought into the idea of investment — foreign investment in Israel and Israeli investment outside. However, the rich are getting richer and sadly the poor are not necessarily coming out of poverty. Israel sees this as our biggest and most important domestic challenge. How can we take the wealth that comes with the economic boom and invest it in a country, especially in two main areas, education and employment? Which sectors of society are most in need of additional assistance to enable them to go forward?
This takes me to two additional issues for Israeli society. One is the growing gap in Israeli society between the majority, which is the Jewish majority, and the large minority of 20%, which is the Arab Muslim minority. How can we address that type of gap in both education and employment? How can we address their involvement in democracy and the way they are connected to the state with all of its different issues? This issue is being discussed in Israel. It is not an easy subject. However, what is important is that in our 60th year it is not being put under the table but is being addressed.
In addition to those gaps, we have in Israel a growing gap between the Israeli Jewish majority, who are non-practising Jews and the Israeli Jewish minority, who are Orthodox Jews. It is an issue we are also trying to address through dialogue and education. These are issues that every society has as it goes forward. There are differences within the society. These are issues which are on the table and which the Israeli Government and Israeli NGOs are trying to address. We have a growing civil society. It is part of who we are right now and hopefully it will start to make a big difference.
Most countries would feel that if these were the only issues on their governments' table or in general that their plates would be pretty full. What does one do when there are differences in terms of employment and education? How does one try to bring one's society closer together and bridge the different gaps? In its 60th year, Israel has two additional large challenges that we need to address. I am only talking about the main challenges. The first one I would like to talk about is that presented by Iran and the second is presented by the Palestinian issue. It is a beautiful sunny day in Ireland. Iran is a sovereign country of 70 million people whose President has openly and repeatedly called for the destruction of another sovereign country. That is not something that started this year. Iran is openly trying to achieve nuclear capability. One does not need to be a nuclear physicist to put two and two together. We cannot ignore the potential threat because Iran has directly and openly made a threat about the annihilation of the State of Israel. That is part of its policy. Iran does not call the country Israel, it calls it the Zionist entity. How can we stand by in silence in 2008, given all the history and watch the leader of a sovereign country call for the annihilation of another sovereign country? The Iranian issue is not an abstract one for us because we have been directly threatened. However, it is not one that is about Israel versus Iran because Iran openly threatens more than just Israel. It funds and is behind terrorist activities not only within the Middle East but also worldwide. Most members are aware of the funding of training in South American countries and in some European countries. I am glad in that sense that it is not considered to be a threat in Ireland, as this country is neutral. We believe strongly that nobody can be neutral on this question. People need to speak up about the matter, as we have been threatened directly. One of the ramifications of the Iranian issue concerns whether the Israeli Government should take money from the budget to build atomic shelters for everybody in Israel. That is a clear dilemma for the Israeli Government. I am Israeli; I have three children and live in Israel. I am a citizen and we are being directly threatened. If the government does not make a decision on the potential threat, the shelters will not be in place five or even ten years from now. On the one hand, how can we make that decision? On the other, how can we not do it?
We want to address the gaps to which I referred and there are other issues that also need to be addressed. Education and employment need investment, but one cannot do it all. Committee members are involved in a process where they understand the dilemmas on the table. That is just one dilemma we in Israel have when it comes to the Iranian threat and the world needs to speak out. This is not something that only concerns Israel. Yes, we are the only ones who have been directly threatened — openly and repeatedly — but Iran poses a threat to the entire Western world. We think everybody should speak out.
On its 60th anniversary, Israel is addressing, reflecting and trying to move forward on the Palestinian issue. I am not sure of how much people are aware of this. The Chairman spoke about the fact that the Irish were the first to speak up about the two-state solution. I am aware of what happened in the past and that this is a change. In our 60th year it is important that the Government and polity of Israel states clearly that we need a two-state solution. The Prime Minister of the State of Israel has openly stated time and again the need for an independent viable Palestinian state alongside Israel. He has also stated openly — not just to people behind the scenes — to the Israeli Parliament which is incredibly opinionated and critical of the government, that we understand and empathise with the Palestinians in their suffering and that we want to move forward.
For more than a year and half the Israeli Prime Minister has been in constant dialogue with the Palestinian President. They meet on a bi-weekly basis. They are not two individual figures working behind the scenes; they are the elected President of the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli Prime Minister. They meet, sit together and talk. I assume they do not talk about the weather in Ireland, they are trying to move forward. They have a joint vision which they are trying to bring down to the ground and talk in concrete terms about a two-state solution and what that means. They are trying to address the core issues that we know are at stake. They are talking about statehood, borders, Jerusalem and refugees. Each of the issues to which I referred is enough on its own to bring down governments in Israel and create controversy around the world. The two leaders of the two peoples directly involved in this conflict are in dialogue. They meet continuously, despite everything that is going on, including the rocket attacks against Israel, the Israeli responses against Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic jihad and attacks against innocent bystanders on both sides. It is clear that for our future we would like to see an independent viable Palestinian state alongside Israel in peace and security.
Israel is not going to assist to establish a Palestinian state alongside it that will be a terrorist base calling for our annihilation. We do not have to actively participate in building such a state. The Prime Minister of Israel sees it clearly as our mission — for ourselves, for our future and for our children and grandchildren — to have a two-state solution, as the Chairman said; Palestine alongside Israel, two countries, two entities that will lead to a flourishing Middle East. We have an amazing amount to bring into our neighbourhood and try to bring what we can. Our neighbourhood is not the Irish neighbourhood. Our neighbours are slightly different. We have Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt. We have peace with Egypt and Jordan which is very important. We would like to see additional openings, but there is no question that for us the main issue is a resolution of the Palestinian issue and how to move forward with two states in the Middle East.
