Bennett charms Sydney
Israel’s Minister for the Economy Naftali Bennett has charmed a luncheon meeting attended by high profile members of Sydney’s business community.
Peter Smaller JNF, Yair Miller NSWJBD, Paul Stephenson JNF and Naftali Bennett photo: Henry Benjamin
The leader of far-right Habayit Hayehudi party spoke on many issues but most related to his own hi-tecq field. He would not be drawn into any questions on topics which he explained to the guests that he was not qualified to answer.
The Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce function was jointly hosted with Woodside Petroleum, an Australian-based company which has a massive investment of the mammoth Leviathan oil fields off the coast of Israel.
Bennett paid special tribute to the work done by Ethy Levy and her team at the Israel Trade Commission.
Naftali Bennett photo: Henry Benjamin
Bennett described Israel today as “one of the most exciting places on earth”. He said investments were always at their best in an atmosphere of change. He said that the conflict issues are real “but that is not what Israel is about.”
He said that the Arab Spring which he renamed the Arab Storm is here to stay and said that it could last 100 years adding “but we have learned to live with it”. Bennett said that he saw Israel “as a lighthouse in this storm”, claiming that it had strong foundations based on history, the IDF and the economy. “A lighthouse”, he said, “projects light and saves lives”.
Bennett said that Israel was projecting its economy into five areas…water, food security in agriculture, energy, cybersecurity and medical devices.
India benefits from Israeli know-how with over 20,000 farmers benefiting from Israeli technology. He told the story of how Israeli research and development is changing medical treatment involving colonoscopy by replacing the technology by developing a pill which is in fact a camera…and how he saw in New York paraplegics running by wearing Israeli devices.
Haredi men were next on the list of Bennett’s points. He told the audience that “these guyd are really really smart…we just need to train them and to teach them Mathematics and English and then integrate them into the economy. I am in charge of that and I am very passionate about it.” This was met with resounding applause.
He said that Israel wanted the percentage of Israeli Arab women in the work force to rise from 25% to over 60%.
He welcomed the arrival in Australia of its new ambassador Shmuel Ben-Shmuel and urged the business community to take advantage of the trade office and the embassy to further the economic relationship between Israel and Australia. He said “it would a shame not to invest in Israel”.
The function was held at the Four Seasons hotel.
Not all charmed in Sydney, no mention of Bennett’s support for the illegal settlements in the occupied territories
Illegal settlements?
You can’t settle illegally in your own land. Check the Mandate for Palestine
“The “Mandate for Palestine,” is an historical League of Nations document, which laid down the Jewish legal right to settle anywhere in western Palestine, between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, an entitlement unaltered in international law. The “Mandate for Palestine”
“Whereas recognition has been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country.”
It is important to point out that political rights to self-determination as a polity for Arabs were guaranteed by the same League of Nations in four other mandates – in Lebanon and Syria (The French Mandate), Iraq, and later Trans-Jordan [The British Mandate].
Any attempt to negate the Jewish people’s right to Palestine – Eretz-Israel, and to deny them access and control in the area designated for the Jewish people by the League of Nations is a serious infringement of international law.
in “the occupied territories” Sure when they are yours you can occupy them
You have to be joking surely? Naftali Bennett Far Right??