The future of northern Israel lies in advanced technological development, according to Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations. The area has few natural resources and Israel, like Japan, must fully develop its human resources, he declared in an address to the American Friends of Haifa University here yesterday at the Friars Club.
Haifa University, Israel’s newest institution of higher education and the only liberal arts college in northern Israel, is particularly important to this end, he said.
Netanyahu used the term “siliconization” to describe his vision of northern Israel as a counterpart of California’s “silicon valley” where microchips and other advanced electronic components are developed and manufactured. He noted that the region is presently under populated by Jews and is the home of 70 percent of Israel’s Arab citizens.
But, according to Netanyahu, it is a secure region. “I guarantee that there is no threat to northern Israel,” he said. The north is secure because potential terrorists in Lebanon know they face “swift certain retribution” if they attack Israel or Israelis, Netanyahu stated. He added that Israel “shares with many people” a desire for and a commitment to a peaceful southern Lebanon.
IMPORTANT FOR ISRAEL TO REMAIN IN THE UN
Netanyahu, who is marking his first anniversary as Israel’s envoy to the world organization, said that although the UN has become a forum for “everyday slander and vituperation” against Israel, it is important that the Jewish State remain in the world body. For one thing, UN membership lends a country international legitimacy. For another, the UN offers Israel links with African, some Arab and other countries with which it has no formal diplomatic relations, the Ambassador said.
In that connection, he noted that he and other Israeli diplomats often are approached by their counterparts from other countries who hope to benefit from Israel’s considerable influence with the U.S.
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