Deputy Consul General for Israel to speak at IU today

Israeli Deputy Consul General at the Israeli Consulate General to the Midwest, Andy David will give a lecture today at 7 p.m. in the Indiana Memorial Union's Georgian Room. The lecture, which is open to the public, will encompass Israel's role in international cooperation, David's area of expertise.\nAs updates are released daily about the conflict between Israel and Palestine, David notes there are other aspects of Israeli society worth focusing on.\n"I will speak about international cooperation projects, something many people don't know about," David said. "This topic is not connected to terrorism. It should be interesting for students to learn about something other than conflict in Israel. We will leave the current events discussion for the question and answer session."\nDavid describes the types of projects currently being implemented in Israel.\n"These co-op projects involve transfers of knowledge between nations in areas such as agriculture, medicine, social development, economic development, and so on."\nThough the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not part of David's message, Israeli domestic relations do affect the efforts of the international cooperative projects.\nIsrael has been in the news frequently because of the violence between the Israelis and the Palestinians, but David wants to motivate people to see past the newspaper headlines. \nHe described the dynamics of the different partnerships between Israel and other nations in his preview of the Thursday lecture.\n"There are some countries with which we have no conflict and then there are some countries that are happy to work with us, but not so happy to talk about it," he said.\nJessica Mallor, director of Jewish student life at The Helene G. Simon Hillel Center, looks forward to hearing David's perspective on Israel.\n"It's so easy for people to get a negative view of Israel because so often all we hear or read about focuses on the war on terrorism that Israel is constantly fighting, but it's important to remember that Israel is a vital, dynamic country with a creative and diverse economy and culture that has really benefited the rest of the world," she said.\nMallor feels it is important for students to hear David's message.\n"There is far more to Israeli life, culture, and society than students may know about, and that can enrich their perspective on the Middle East situation."\nDavid also spoke Wednesday at a call out meeting for Hoosiers for Israel. He talked about the importance of advocacy for Israel. \nSamantha Rollinger, the director of academic affairs for consulate general of Israel to the Midwest said David's trip to IU was his first college campus visit as Deputy Consule General and that he came to IU to rally support for Israel.\n"IU already has successful Israel programming," she said, "and we wanted to highlight the opportunities to connect with Israel."\n-- Contact staff writer Brittany Terwilliger at bterwill@indiana.edu.