VIDEO: Israel in Space

From global competition to global cooperation

Israel is in the forefront of global aerospace innovations, technologies and research: building and launching satellites, developing electro-optical systems and monitoring the environment from space. The Israeli aerospace industry, now a major player in outer space, has also been working on space projects with other countries – such as the United States, France, Italy and others.

http://youtu.be/UuisbVUL7dI

A little history

Israel officially entered the space age with the lift-off of its first satellite, Ofeq-1, from the locally built Shavit launch vehicle on September 19, 1988. With that launch, Israel joined an exclusive club of countries – Russia, the United States, England, Japan, India, France and China – that have developed, produced and launched their own satellites.

As well as developing space hardware, Israel is using space as a platform to find out more about life on our own planet. Israel has made important contributions in a number of areas including laser communication, research into embryo development and osteoporosis, monitoring pollution, and mapping geology, soil and vegetation in semi-arid environments.

The next step was taken in early 2003 when NASA launched the 28th flight of space shuttle Columbia, on mission STS-107. The seven crewmembers on board included the first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon.

Many international space programs have taken an interest in Israel’s space achievements. In addition to NASA, Israel has formal space research cooperation agreements with France, Germany, Russia, the Ukraine, the Netherlands and India. In June 2003, Israel was accepted into the European Space Agency (ESA) as a participating member.

(Courtesy of the MFA Newsletter)
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Ahead of Upcoming United Nations Vote on Palestinian Statehood, and 18 years after the Oslo Accords were Signed, Dep FM Ayalon Releases New Video:

‘The Truth About the Peace Process’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAuBc_cbXo0&feature=channel_video_title

“The Palestinian leadership wants a state less than it wants to see an end to the Jewish State,” Ayalon says

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon released a new YouTube video titled “The Truth About the Peace Process” where he demonstrates that the reason there is no successful peace process is because of decades of Palestinian and Arab recalcitrance and the main reason for the conflict is not Israel’s presence in the West Bank, but successive Palestinian leaders resistance to Jewish sovereignty. The video was released to the public yesterday, 13th September, the date the Oslo Accords were signed exactly 18 years ago during a public ceremony on the White House lawn.

“The Palestinian excuse for going to the United Nations for recognition is because of the so-called ‘occupation’ when the facts belie this,” Ayalon said. “It is important to demonstrate the truth by showing that the Palestinians were offered a state many times over the last several decades but rejected each offer because it would have meant recognizing Jewish sovereignty.”

“Unfortunately, this leaves many to suspect that the Palestinian leadership wants a state less than it wants to see an end to the Jewish State. This is proven by a long history of Palestinian rejectionism.”

The Deputy Foreign Minister uses the history of the conflict to demonstrate that while Israel has consistently made many concessions and offers of peace and territorial compromise, the Palestinian side has always rejected the offers and heightened the bloody conflict. The video also reverses the long-held belief that Israel’s presence in the West bank that is the cause of the conflict.

“If Israel’s presence in the West Bank is the cause of the conflict, then surely that would mean before this presence in the territories there was no conflict,” Ayalon explains.”This is factually and historically inaccurate. The conflict predated not only Israel’s presence in the territories, but even the establishment of the State of Israel.”

“It is vital that people know the truth and don’t fall for easy propaganda slogans about the so-called ‘occupation’ created by the Palestinians to distract from the truth. I created this video when I saw the vast success of my first video released two months ago that showed the truth about Israel’s rights in the West Bank . The positive feedback I received from all over the world has led me to believe that we are starting to make inroads in the public consciousness and that people are open and even very receptive to the truth about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

The video produced in English includes translations in numerous languages including Arabic, Spanish, French, Russian and German. The video will also be shown in hundreds of schools and educational centers worldwide as part of their curriculum on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The video was produced in cooperation with StandWithUs, an international organization dedicated to Israel education worldwide, by filmmaker Shlomo Blass of Rogatka Ltd, and directed by internationally-renowned director Ashley Lazarus.

The video is the second in a series that will show the truth about certain issues surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Deputy Foreign Minister already has plans for two upcoming videos in the series that will deal with refugees and Jerusalem.

The first video ‘The Truth About the West Bank’ can be seen by clicking on or cutting and pasting the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGYxLWUKwWo&feature=channel_video_title

Deputy Foreign Minister Ayalon has an extremely successful record in the social media with tens of thousands of followers across the globe. He has consistently been recognized as one of the leading politicians globally utilizing social media, by, amongst others, Foreign Policy and Dimpool, a web-based diplomatic analysis center.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/06/20/the_fp_twitterati_100

http://www.dimpool.com/dimpool-analysis/2011/05/the-most-succesful-politicians-on-the-internet-top-4/

You can follow the Deputy Foreign Minister on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+

(Courtesy of the Bureau of Deputy Foreign Minister Ayalon)

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