Did the role of Israel change in the last decade in terms of global politics and trade?
Around Two years ago, the Abraham Accords were signed and the Middle East dramatically changed. The peace agreements with UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco, together with the existing peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan paved the way for much more advanced and inclusive regional cooperation. We established the “Negev Forum”, a Head of States platform to promote regional health, food security, education, and tolerance, as well as security for greater prosperity for the people of the ME and beyond. Israel proven capabilities in offering innovative technological solutions for many of today’s global challenges are now being integrated into regional architectures. In addition, Israel is booming in the tech sector and our known ecosystem for creative, innovative entrepreneurship is attracting investors and International companies and increasing our role in the global economy.
Throughout the years we have worked, in collaboration with Georgia public-private sectors to extend and share our knowledge and experience in agriculture, education, technology, and more. We sure plan to continue this cooperation in the years to come.
What does Israel do for the safety of the Jewish community in Ukraine – currently under massive attack from Russia? – How Israel supports Ukraine in the crisis?
Israel stands by Ukraine since the beginning of the war. We were very clear on condemning the Russian invasion, rejecting the Russian declared annexation of parts of Ukraine, and voting with Ukraine on all major votes at the various UN organs. Israel was the first and only country to send a field hospital into Ukraine as early as April when Israeli doctors treated and assisted thousands of Ukrainians in need. We have and will continue to support and assist by treating severely injured soldiers in Israeli hospitals, receiving children from Ukraine for oncological treatment at Israeli hospitals, training mental health and psycho-social specialists on post-trauma and building resilience capacities as well as delivering medical equipment for hospitals, water, food, mega generators and more. We have assisted women and children among the general population who wished to leave, to take relief and shelter in Israel. As part of our care to the general population, our team in Kyiv is also keeping in touch with the Jewish community
Ms. Hadas Meitzad is an Israeli Diplomat since 2006.
Ms. Meitzad served as Chief of Staff of the Political Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem, Israel since August 2018.
From 2013 to 2018, Hadas worked at the Israeli Permanent Mission to the United Nations first as a Counselor for sustainable development, and since 2015 as Minister-counsellor for Political and Strategic Affairs and head of the Political team.
In the past, she worked at the MFA’s Nonproliferation of WMD and Eurasia departments. From 2007-2009, she headed the Public Diplomacy section of the Israeli Embassy in Tokyo, Japan.
Ms. Meitzad joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2006 after serving as a captain for eight years in the Israeli Air Force at the rank of captain. She has a BSc in Mathematics and Computer Science from Bar Ilan University and an MBA from Tel Aviv University.
Ms. Mietzad was born and raised in Arad, Israel. She has one daughter.
She is fluent in Hebrew and English.
Do you think that regional security is getting worse over time or improving?
I believe we are witnessing opposite trends. On the one hand, the world is becoming more united and quick to respond when new threats emerged. For example, we all saw the immediate reaction of the international community to the Iranian regime’s involvement in the war in Ukraine in the form of new waves of sanctions. We witnessed the UN members send a clear message to the Iranian regime through their decisive decision to remove Iran from the commission on the Status of Women.
On the positive trends, we also include the development of various regional cooperation all over the world. Architectures that allow us, the moderate countries to join forces against those who spread terrorism and radicalization.
On the other hand, the devastating war in Ukraine is continuing as well, oppression and radicalization have yet to be eradicated from our world.
We are still being challenged by the ongoing trend of illicit transfer of advanced weapons systems, including UAVs by Iran to the hands of non-state actors – mostly unaccountable militias and terror organizations and the battlefields in Ukraine.
The Jewish people have recently celebrated Hanukkah, and this holiday’s main story is about how the light chases away the darkness – I wish us all to see the acceleration of all the positive trends that shed more light into our world.
How does Israel see the strategic relationship between Russia and Iran or Syria?
Israel has had an ongoing comprehensive dialog with Russia, for many years now, including on matters regarding Israel’s national security. In this conversation, we have disagreements as well. Since the entrance of Russian forces into Syria back in 2015 and throughout the different rounds of negotiations about the Iranian nuclear file, we were very clear in expressing our concerns and analyses about the relationship and the negative role played by Iran in the Middle East, including in Syria, and beyond. Russia is well aware of Israel’s point of view.
Iran continues to defy every international law and norm – from oppressing its women and children, executing Iranian citizens with no proper legal process, advancing its military nuclear capabilities, and repeated attempts to obstruct maritime trade and commerce. It also continues to undermine the world’s stability by equipping militias with advanced weaponry and financing terror organizations and by trying to carry out terror attacks all over the world, including the latest attempt here on Georgian soil. We were always concerned with Iran’s activities to improve its UAVs and now we are witnessing the spillover from the Middle East to Europe.
The crisis in Ukraine worsened relations with Russia, but still, many Russians are traveling to Israel as tourists or have business with Israeli companies.
How the society reacts to the current crisis and its relation with Russia?
The Israeli society supports the Ukrainian people and wishes to see the end of this war in the nearest future. As you know the people-to-people relation between Israelis are Russians are strong, partly because of the massive immigration of Jewish people from this region in the 90th, and the large Jewish community in Russia.
The Jewish community in Russia is the third largest in the world and the relationship with this community is very important to us. We should also keep in mind that no visas are required for Russians visiting Israel. At the same time, Israel is extremely vigilant and acts to ensure it is not being used as a platform for circumventing international sanctions on Russia.
In which sectors Israeli investors can be interested in Georgia?
The traditional fields of interest are agriculture, real estate, and tourism. I believe that the plans for major development in the fields of energy, connectivity including digital connectivity, and infrastructure will attract more Israeli investors. The recently signed MOU on the black sea cable and additional similar projects are catching the attention of companies and investors.
It is an interesting period and I hope to see Georgia fully benefit from its location, capabilities and it’s continuing stability visa-ve the region. I believe we should increase our joint efforts to assist the growing tech sector here in Georgia.
From your personal view, who can be named the Hero of the Year?
The brave women of Iran who continue to stand up for their basic rights in front of an oppressive, narrow-minded regime.
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