Tag: India

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Modi and Israel’s Coming of Age

Modi’s historic visit is a good opportunity for Israel to understand where it now stands and what it must do to maintain and expand its current success into the future.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel this week marks more than the 25th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two nations.

It marks as well Israel’s coming of age as a nation.

When in 1992, India and Israel forged full diplomatic relations, the Indian government was reacting to a transformation in the international arena, rather than to changes that were specifically related to the Jewish state.

In 1991 and 1992, in response to the US victory over the Soviet Union in the Cold War, a large group of countries restored or inaugurated full diplomatic relations with Israel. These states – including the Russian Federation and China – had by and large been either on the Soviet side of the war, or leaned toward Moscow. Their refusal to forge full ties with Israel, a key US Cold War ally, became a liability in the US-dominated post-Cold War global order. Hence, they abandoned their Cold War rejection of Israel and instead embraced it.

Although ingratiating themselves with Washington loomed large in the considerations of most governments involved, they also took the step due to Israel’s independent power. If Israel had been a strategic basket case facing an uncertain future, then even in the face of the demise of the Soviet Union, Moscow and its allies could well have had second and third thoughts. Why anger the Arab world by recognizing a soon-to-be gone Jewish state?

Had Israel recognized and built on the sources of its power and attraction for other governments, it would have spent the rest of the 1990s strengthening itself still further – defeating Hezbollah in Lebanon, weakening the Iranian regime and working with the Americans to end its ballistic weapon program. It would have moved quickly to liberalize its economy to enable the million new Israelis from the former Soviet Union to immediately transform Israel into the global innovator rather than waiting for this to gradually occur over decades.

Instead, in 1993, then prime minister and defense minister Yitzhak Rabin and then foreign minister Shimon Peres decided to go off on a strategic tangent.

Ignoring or failing to understand the implications of the US Cold War victory and the economic and national security implications of the aliya wave from the former Soviet Union, Rabin and Peres decided the key to everything was appeasing the PLO – a terrorist organization whose declared intention was to annihilate Israel through a mix of terrorism and political warfare.

As far as they were concerned, nothing that had just happened in the world had strategic implications for Israel. Rather, Israel’s diplomatic, military and economic power were all contingent on making peace by appeasing the PLO.

To implement that strategy, Rabin and Peres and their government lobbied foreign governments to support the PLO militarily, financially and politically (not that anyone needed much convincing).

And they transformed the IDF. Rabin and Peres instructed the IDF General Staff to “change its diskette” in relation to the PLO and to fighting terrorism.

No longer were Israel’s generals to aspire to defeating terrorists. They were instead ordered to facilitate appeasement – through the transfer of land and military power to the PLO. The PLO, Rabin told them, could defeat terrorism more effectively than the IDF could. And all Israel needed to do to induce Yasser Arafat to defeat the forces he built, paid and commanded was shower him with money, territory, firepower and international legitimacy. The PLO was not Israel’s enemy. It was Israel’s peace partner.

Not surprisingly, this didn’t work out at all.

Israel’s diplomatic position collapsed. The international community effectively sided with the PLO against Israel when it rejected peace and initiated its terror war against Israel in 2000. Since then Israel has found itself targeted by political and economic warfare from the EU, its second largest trading partner and its previously fairly supportive strategic ally. Following Europe’s lead, the American Left has incrementally abandoned its pre-1993 embrace of Israel.

As for security, in the seven years of the peace process that ended with the PLO’s rejection of peace and instigation of its terror war against Israel, the number of Israelis killed by Palestinian terrorists was twice what it had been in the previous 15 years. More than 1,500 Israelis have been killed by Palestinian terrorists since 1993. More than 10,000 have been wounded.

Buffeted by the utter and complete failure of the appeasement strategy, since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power in 2009, he has gradually restored Israel to the classic notions of national development.

Building on the market reforms he initiated in his first tenure as prime minister from 1996 to 1999 and his stint as finance minister from 2003 to 2006, Netanyahu has overseen the continued liberalization of the economy and expansion of Israel’s international markets to ensure the continued expansion of the economy and increase Israel’s attractiveness as a trading partner and investment hub.

Abandoning the PLO appeasement strategy, which made Israel’s diplomatic standing contingent on PLO approval, Netanyahu has based his diplomatic strategy on Israel’s economic and attractiveness and stability. He has emphasized the aspects of Israel’s economy – technological and agriculture prowess – among other things, where Israel has a comparative advantage to draw international actors to its shores.

While decoupling Israel’s diplomacy from the PLO, he has also gradually rolled back the legitimacy Israel unwisely conferred on the terrorist group 24 years ago.

The fact that Modi has opted not to visit the PLO-controlled Palestinian Authority in Ramallah demonstrates the wisdom and success of the strategy. Modi may or may not be interested in establishing a PLO state, but he is very interested in developing his own economy. Modi recognizes the synergies between Israel’s comparative advantages in military and economic technologies and India’s needs.

As the leader of a democracy, his first interest is advancing his country’s needs. Whether or not there will be peace between Israel and the Palestinians has no impact on India’s security and prosperity.

Modi’s historic visit is a good opportunity for Israel to understand where it now stands and what it must do to maintain and expand its current success into the future. We must never again be seduced into believing that our nation’s fate will be determined by eternal factors. Whether Israel continues to prosper in security in the company of friendly trading partners and strategic allies is largely in our hands.

If we continue the hard work of growing our economy and defeating rather than appeasing our enemies while basing our diplomacy on what we have to offer the nations of the world we will ensure our prosperity and build a peaceful future for ourselves and all of our neighbors.

Originally Published in the Jerusalem Post.

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MODI IS COMING: Indian Prime Minister to Visit Israel, Yes this is Really Really BIG

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stated at his weekly cabinet meeting:

“Next week, the Indian Prime Minister, my friend, Narendra Modi will arrive in Israel, This is an historic visit to Israel. In the 70 years of the country’s existence no Indian Prime Minister has ever visited and this is further expression of the State of Israel’s military, economic and diplomatic strength. This is a very significant step in strengthening relations between the two countries. India is a huge country with over 1.25 billion people and is one of the world’s largest, growing economies. Ties between Israel and India are on a constant upswing.”

“Today, the Cabinet will approve decisions that will deepen these ties, beginning with expanding exports and deepening cooperation in agriculture and water. We will establish a joint innovation, and research and development, fund. We will also increase tourism from India to Israel; this has very great potential. All of this is an additional expression of Israel’s enhanced international position in recent years as we strengthen the State of Israel.”

The Israel-India partnership has been developing and building for years. In an unstable world this partnership can and most likely will change both the Middle East and Near East.

I wrote this in my post in December:

“With a billion people in India, making it the largest democracy in the world, Israel finds a partner that has no in built nor cultural hint of anti-Semitism (Jews have been living in India for 2000 years) and fights against the same past and present enemies as itself. Through technology and military partnerships as well long time cultural connections the two countries are set to impact the globe way beyond their regions.  It is the ultimate partnership that will shake the global order currently controlled by the US, Britain, EU, China, and Russia.”

With no offense meant to our American readership (whose country has long backed our rights to our homeland), Modi’s visit is a pendulum changing event that marks the moment when two former British colonies reached a point when they were able to reclaim the mantle of world leadership they had before it was taken from them.

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THE FLOURISHING INDIAN-ISRAELI RELATIONS

As relations between the European Union countries and Israel are getting cooler and more tense, Israel’s relations with India, a future superpower, is getting warmer and stronger.  Last November, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin received a very warm welcome reception on his state visit to India.  Increasingly, the government of India and its people are moving closer to Israel.  For the first time in history, India’s Prime Minister is scheduled for an official visit to Israel to commemorate the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.   Meanwhile, the Indian Defense Ministry announced it has contracted with Israeli arms company Rafael, to supply India with anti-Tank missiles, at a cost of

$1 billion.  The Indian government is also considering purchasing pilotless attack planes from Israel.

India and Israel established diplomatic relations in 1992, but when New Delhi was led by the Congress Party, the relationship was cold and reserved.  Things changed in 1998, when the People’s Party of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the national election.  The BJP-led coalition known as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) formed the first non-Congress government in India under the Prime Minister (PM) Atal Bihari Vajpayee.  Vajpayee has been a warm friend of Israel.  In September, 2003, Ariel Sharon was the first Israeli Prime Minister to officially visit India.

Rediff-India Abroad reported on August 27, 2003, “Israel in recent years has emerged as a strategic partner of India in the latter’s fight against terrorism.  Israeli sensors are being used along certain portions of the Indian border in Jammu and Kashmir to plug infiltration. A few Israeli experts are working with the Indian Army in fine tuning these sensors.  India has also bought unmanned aerial vehicles and a long-range radar system that is part of the Arrow Ballistic Missile Defense System from Israel, and is expected to soon acquire the airborne early warning and control system Phalcon from Israel.  Israeli equipment is also being used in the upgrade of MIG-21 fighters.

In the civilian sector, there are several major joint projects between Indian and Israeli companies. The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and Israel Aircraft Industries have a program to jointly market HAL’s Advanced Light Helicopter in the international market.  Israel is also expected to train and equip a 3,000-strong commando team, a project that is believed to be the idea of Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani. These commandos are likely to be stationed around the country to react swiftly to terrorist strikes. The cooperation would be taken to a higher level, an official in the Ministry of External Affairs said.”

The 2014 major victory of the BJP over the Congress Party, and the election of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister ushered an even warmer approach toward Israel.  PM Modi was familiar with Israel as the Chief Minister of Gujarat State from 2001 to 2014.  Modi sent 600 Indian farmers from Gujarat to Israel to attend the Aggrotech Exhibition in Tel Aviv.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry had wisely initiated a long-term policy of developing technological and agricultural ties with Asian states, especially with India. Since Israel is a leading world power in agricultural innovation, it has built model farms throughout Asia (and India) and invited farmers from the region to come for studies in Israel.  One such farm was set up in Gujarat, with Chief Minister Modi being deeply impressed.  The Israeli contribution to Gujarat economic success propelled Modi to become PM of India.  He thus remembered that what was good for Gujarat may be good for India.  To add to Modi’s already positive image of Israel, PM Netanyahu was the first foreign leader to congratulate Modi on his 2014 electoral victory.

Something in the nature of mutual respect and admiration developed between Netanyahu and Modi.  They twittered congratulations to each other while at the UN Annual General Assembly Summit (New York) of 2014.  India has become so important to Netanyahu that he would not excuse members of his narrow coalition of 61 (before Avigdor Lieberman’s Israel Beitenu Party join his government) to travel to Europe, but would allow them to go to India.

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Agriculture and technology sectors notwithstanding, in the security (counter-terrorism) and defense sector, the relationship between Israel and India is flourishing. The Indian government contracted with Israel’s defense industry to purchase a medium-range aerial defense system, to be provided to the Indian army, worth approximately $2.6 billion.

Professor of International Relations at London’s King’s College, Harsh V. Pant wrote a (2/12/2016) column in the Daily O titled “Modi deserves credit for ending India’s hypocrisy with Israel.” His sub-title was “It’s time Tel Aviv gets the recognition it deserves from New Delhi.” Pant pointed out that, “Despite representing a nation that is one of the biggest victims of cross-border terrorism in the world, our esteemed members of Parliament (a cynical reference to the opposition party members) have had no compunction in equating the actions of a liberal democratic Israel with the murderous extremism of a terrorist organization such as Hamas.”

Pant goes on to say that “In contrast to the back channel security ties that existed before the normalization of bilateral relations, India has been more willing, in recent years, to carve out a mutually beneficial bilateral relationship with Israel, including deepening military ties and countering the threat terrorism poses to the two societies.  India has also begun denouncing Palestinian suicide bombings and other terrorist acts in Israel.  India is no longer initiating anti-Israel resolutions at the UN and has made serious attempts to moderate NAM’s anti-Israel resolutions.” Professor Pant added, “India is the world’s largest buyer of Israeli weaponry and was Israel’s third largest trading partner in Asia in 2013, just after China and Hong Kong.  Israel has been a good friend of India but Delhi continues to be shy of demonstrating its friendship. At crucial times, when India needed Israeli help, it got it unreservedly. An open relationship with Israel serves India well and it’s time Tel Aviv gets the recognition it deserves from New Delhi.”

India openly recognized the importance of its relations with Israel when India’s President Pranab Mukherjee visited in 2015.  He was invited to address a special session of the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) Plenum.  Mukherjee remarked that “The modern period witnessed our parallel struggles against British rule. Our leaders adopted different methods but were inspired by the same human values and ideals… We admire the will and resolve you have shown in building your nation under difficult circumstances.”  Mukherjee added, “The Jewish people have always been an integral part of India’s composite society.” He then thanked Israel for “rushing critical defense supplies in 1999.”  Mukherjee ended his remarks by saying that India’s “consistent policy has been to build a strong, substantive and mutually beneficial relationship with Israel. We will continue to do so through high level visits and exchanges so that India-Israel relations are accorded the utmost priority. As we approach the 25th anniversary of the establishment of full diplomatic relations, we both seek to expand the vision of our future partnership.”

Israel’s President Rivlin reciprocated by visiting the largest democracy in the world in November, 2016.  In his meeting with PM Modi, the latter said: “Two and a half decades of our friendship has brought rich dividends for both our nations. It has also strengthened voices of peace, stability and democracy globally. Your visit provides an opportunity to break new ground and shape new contours of our partnership.”

Following his meeting with PM Modi in New York, PM Netanyahu described Israel’s relations with India as “The sky is the limit.” Israel’s pivot towards Asia, and India in particular, is now apparent.

Originally Published in FrontPageMag.

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Israel’s Experience and Technologies Can Help Transform Agriculture in India

Originally Published in FirstPost in November.

Over the last 10 years, I have had the good fortune of meeting hundreds of small-scale farmers all over India. I came to appreciate their hard work, eagerness to progress, and the difficult physical and economic environment in which they work.

Farmers bitterly complain about these hardships, but they always light up when I mention that I am Israeli. Even in the remotest of villages, farmers are somehow well aware and appreciative of Israel’s agricultural achievements. Unfortunately, however, very few of those who adore Israel’s technologies also use them in their own farms. A tremendous potential therefore remains largely unfulfilled.

Indian agriculture has made incredible progress over the last few decades, but it needs to undergo a deep transformation. It must make more efficient use of scarce water resources, lest they deplete. It must make more efficient use of nitrogen fertilizers, lest they continue to pollute water and sicken children. It must make more judicious use of pesticides, lest they continue to poison farmers. And it must diversify.

Israel’s experience and its technologies can help, so the growing agricultural cooperation between the two countries is heartening. Several Indian states have opened Centres of Excellence with the Israeli government. Cooperation in the private sector is also growing.

Last week, an Israeli business and academic delegation, led by President Reuven Rivlin, was hosted by President Pranab Mukherjeein Agro Tech 2016 in Chandigarh. President Rivlin declared that “when Israeli companies and Indian farmers meet, they can mage magic happen”. In a seminar organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry and Tel Aviv University, called ‘Digital Pathways in Indian Agriculture’, Israeli and Indian scientists and businessmen introduced exciting new technologies with the potential to transform the Indian agricultural landscape.

As exciting as technological innovations are, making them impactful will require a broadening of perspective. Agronomists and plant scientists have made incredible progress in understanding what crops need in order to flourish. Now, we need to develop a similar understanding of what farmers need in order to flourish. Without such an understanding, even the most revolutionary technologies will likely remain unused by the hundreds of millions of smallholders who grow India’s food.

Take drip irrigation, the most famous Israeli agricultural technology. Drip irrigation is proven to deliver the dual benefit of increased production and reduced water, fertilizer and herbicide requirements, exactly what so many Indian farmers need. Why then does the market for drip irrigation, while growing, still represent only a small fraction of Indian farmers?

The answers to this and related questions have to do more with economics than with agronomy, and more with farmers than with the crops they grow. The problem is that finding business models and government policies that can spread improved technologies sustainably has simply turned out to be as difficult a puzzle as developing these technologies in the first place.

It is therefore not for lack of effort or resources that a country that has mastered nuclear and satellite technology is still struggling to replace antiquated farming practices or lift its farmers out of poverty. The challenge is much more complicated than it may seem. And I don’t mean to suggest no programmes are successful. For example, in some states, like Gujarat, drip irrigation has been spreading rapidly in recent years, likely thanks to effective administration of the national drip subsidy programme. But we know too little about what works and what doesn’t and why and when.

We need to direct the same kind of energies that we put into the “crop” aspect of the challenge into the “human” aspect of the challenge. Frankly, it doesn’t help that the majority of India’s brightest and most ambitious young direct their brainpower to the fields of engineering, medicine and information and communication technology, while so few choose to take on the challenge of sustainable rural development (of course, there are wonderful exceptions, but they are too few).

India can surely succeed in transforming its agriculture, and we in Israel are eager to help. Let us begin by recognising the importance of not just the “technical element”, but also the “human element”. Let us build a bi-national, long-term and systematic programme that brings together academia, the public sector and the private sector; engineers, agronomists, plant scientists, social scientists, policy specialists and entrepreneurs. Let us harness the amazing brainpower, entrepreneurship and creativity of our two countries’ young generations, and get them involved. And most importantly, let us not shy away from leaving our offices and our labs and our experimental farms and stepping into farmers’ own fields.

Academia can have a powerful role to play. My own institution, Tel Aviv University, is leading the way by forging alliances with leading Indian universities and working with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to carve new paths forward. We can use these collaborations to create a prestigious programme for outstanding, brilliant young Israelis and Indians to work together in small inter-disciplinary teams, and develop and test, in fields and villages across India, new approaches and models for adapting and disseminating relevant technologies to farmers. Governments can provide support and then scale up and implement those approaches that prove to be effective.

I believe a programme of this kind can radically change the perception of agriculture by young Indians from a thing of the past to a science of the future, and attract bright, dedicated and idealistic students from both India and Israel. These students will forge personal ties that will strengthen our relationship as countries, and achieve something that only they, if anyone, can do: help make Indian agriculture a model for the other emerging economies who are facing similar challenges.

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Israel-India Alliance is the Real Global Gamechanger

In 1948 two former British colonies were partitioned and given independent status.  Like the British Mandate of Palestine, the Indian sub-continent had a rocky relationship with their colonial masters.  At the end the British pulled out of both places due to the yearning for independence within the ancestral peoples of the Land of Israel and India. With relations between the Hindu majority India and the Jewish state of Israel growing at a fast pace on all levels, the parallels appear divinely ordained.

In both areas, as they did in many of their colonies the British supported regime friendly leaders while backing Islamic insurgencies to pressure and weaken the hold of the real indigenous party over their ancestral land.  These policies proved successful as they led to the “necessary” partitioning of both Israel and India. By partitioning their former colonies the British, as well as other Western neo-colonialists would ensure the economic and even military dependency of their former colonies.

Nearly 70 years later, Israel and India are no longer dependent on British military and economic might and over the last decade and a half have forged a growing economic, technological, and now military alliance.

In the latest development Israeli Science, Technology and Space Minister Ofir Akunis met his counterpart Harsh Vardhan last week in New Delhi. The ministers signed a scientific collaboration agreement between Israel and India under which each country will appropriate $1 million for joint research ventures in 2017.

“We are expanding our cooperation in many fields, including science, technology, and innovation,” Akunis said.

In November India signed a $1.4 billion contract with Israel Aerospace Industries and is waiting for ten armed Heron TP UAVs , set to be delivered within three years.  The deal is worth $400 million.

With a billion people in India, making it the largest democracy in the world, Israel finds a partner that has no in built nor cultural hint of anti-Semitism (Jews have been living in India for 2000 years) and fights against the same past and present enemies as itself.  Through technology and military partnerships as well long time cultural connections the two countries are set to impact the globe way beyond their regions.  It is the ultimate partnership that will shake the global order currently controlled by the US, Britain, EU, China, and Russia.

Watch PM Modi speak about the relationship below:

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Bibi Netanyahu: Our Relationship with the USA Will Further Strengthen

Below are Bibi’s remarks at the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting.  The Prime Minister clearly states he views the relationship with the USA as special and expects it to strengthen no matter who wins the White House. He also believes and hopes that America will continue to insist that any solution to the Israel-Palestinian dispute will be dealt with in direct negotiations with no pre-conditions rather than international forums.

Bibi then listed three countries that Israel has growing bi-lateral relations with:

  • China
  • Russia
  • India

Two of these three are in a current trajectory to be in direct conflict with the United States, especially if Hillary Clinton wins. In a growing multi-polar world that is shredding up the globalist dream of a new world order, Israel may cherish its special relationship to the United States, but is ensuring that it is on good footing with three of the rising powers to its North and East.

Watch the full address below:

Break the BDS

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Decolonizing Israel and Other Indigenous Peoples

This last week I hopped on to the Lowell Yosef Galin Show for a short interview and discussion in connection this very magazine and its role in presenting an alternative approach to geopolitics and Israel’s connection to other indigenous peoples around the world.

We discuss:

  • Israel as an indigenous people
  • Other indigenous people we should partner with
  • Western and Arab colonialism
  • Vision of Israel Rising

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Break the BDS

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Redemption Watch: Hindus Reach Out to Learn More About Judaism

I participated in a Q and A session with Hindu Indians interested in learning more about the Jewish people and our belief set.  I was not only inspired by the depth of their questions, but their respect towards our history and faith. They were authentic and brotherly without any hidden agendas.  That alone made it a refreshing event worthy of a follow up and continued dialogue.

There are 1 billion Indians.  Most are Hindu.  Indians have a tremendous admiration for the Jewish people and throughout the centuries offered their country as a safe haven for our people.  Indians are also one of the most ancient cultures in the world and like Judaism do not believe in organized outreach to draw others into their ranks.

Watch the video below.  It may be long, but well worth it.

Break the BDS

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Headlines June 5: Jerusalem Day, 2-state Security Proposal, India’s Bnei Menashe

Mayor Barkat says contested Jerusalem Day march in Old City ‘appropriate’
[The Jerusalem Post]

 

Israel on Friday announced a series of gestures to relax restrictions on the movement of Palestinian Arabs during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
[Arutz Sheva]

 

Arabs were involved in 59 percent of the murders in Israel in 2015, almost three times their share in the population (21 percent)
[Haaretz]

 

Israel will spend 8.1 millions shekels, or about 2 million dollars, to bring more than 712 members of India’s Bnei Menashe community to Israel this year.
[Forward]

 

Former Israeli and US security and diplomacy officials have presented two proposals for achieving a two-state solution, based on systems that they say would satisfy Israel’s security needs in the West Bank while providing Palestinians the sovereignty they require.
[The Jerusalem Post]

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African, Asian Students Studying Agriculture Abroad in Israel

The Israeli desert isn’t just sprouting some unprecedented produce in the miracle soil across its plains; it’s growing some of the finest agriculturists and agronomists this generation has ever seen. In an attempt to spread the important knowledge that Israeli agro-technicians have discovered, AICAT is opening its doors to students from all over Africa and Asia, providing the kind of education that these kids could never get back home.

Stimulating the Minds of the Next Generation

The Arava International Center for Agricultural Training (AICAT) has developed a forward-thinking work-study program that allows undergraduates from Asia and Africa to come learn the basic principles of agriculture. They are teaching young minds how Israelis have used technology, biochemistry, and other sciences to enhance the productivity and output of these agricultural basic building blocks. To date, more than 10,000 students have gained from this initiative, and more keep coming each year.

The program was started with a simple mission: get the right information into the minds of people living in underdeveloped regions and provide effective help to the 25% of the world’s population that lives in poverty. The program matches farmers as mentors to the students for the year, and they are taken through the entire process from start to finish.

AICAT is located in Sapir, in the heart of a desert region known as the Arava Desert. Students hail from Indonesia, Nepal, South Sudan, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Laos, and East Timor, to name but a few.

Educating from A-to-Z

In an interview with ISRAEL21c, AICAT director Hanni Arnon playfully said “They come at plantation time and grow with the plants.” Most of the challenges that the Arava Desert faces are the same as the problems that these students are facing back home, so seeing the way in which technology is helping to combat these problems first-hand brings the whole experience to life.

Lack of water supply, geographic isolation, difficult weather conditions, unproductive soil, and other complicated conditions are some of the challenges African and Asian students are learning to combat throughout their stay in the program. The school teaches the undergraduates the importance of proper crop planning, research, and implementation. They discuss the benefits and need for technologies such as drip irrigation and water management to keep the crops hydrated despite frequent water shortages, and pest control to maximize the output of each crop season.

Even more impressive are the values that AICAT imparts to these kids. ”If you want it, you can make a change. We teach that a difficulty is a challenge and you need to find a solution,” comments Arnon.

AICAT currently has an international master’s degree run in cooperation with Tel Aviv University that lasts 18 months. The specialty is Plant Sciences, and it touches on food safety and security issues.