Orli Gil, 
the Consul General of Israel to the Midwest, will be in Kansas City on Tuesday, April 5, to speak to the community about “Israel’s Challenges in a Changing World.” The event, which is free, is presented by Jewish Community Relations Bureau|American Jewish Committee, Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City, and Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City.
Because the events in the Middle East are changing so rapidly, she said this week that she can’t say exactly what she will discuss.
“The new developments in the Middle East do carry some chances for new regimes and more democracy but it has a lot of risks with it,” she said in a phone interview from her Chicago office.
She said Israel “used to see Egypt and Saudi Arabia as a balance to the new axis of Iran and Turkey. Now the least radical side of the equation has its uncertainties.
“I don’t know what the future of Egypt will be. I can only guess and hope but certainly I cannot foresee it.”
One thing Israel is concerned about, Gil said, is that Iran will try to use some of these changes for their own benefit “to increase their influence in the area.”
Gil said she plans to talk about some events that haven’t gotten a lot of media attention, such as “the horrible massacre that took place in Itamar,” on March 11. She is referring to the brutal murders of the Fogels, 36-year-old Udi and 35-year-old Ruth and three of their six children — Yoav, 11, along with Elad, 4, and Hadas, 3 months.
A group called the Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade of Imad Mughniyeh claimed responsibility for the attack. Israeli forces combed the area after the attack, and the Palestinian Authority agreed to participate in a joint investigation to find the killer or killers.
Gil may also discuss the seizing of the Liberia-flagged cargo ship Victoria by Israel’s navy on March 14 “which was full of dangerous, advanced weapons to be used by Hamas and other terrorist organizations.”
“These were Iranian weapons that were aimed to reach the Gaza strip and shows that Iran is doing everything it can to help the terrorist organizations operate in this very fragile situation in the Middle East right now,” Gil said.
In a reference to the instability of Egypt, Gil pointed out that “the Egyptian army used to attempt to stop the arming of Hamas. We really don’t know what’s going to happen from September on.”
Gil would also like to remind Kansas Citians that Israel is not only about strategic issues in the Middle East.
“We have a wonderful democracy and culture, literature and high tech. This is actually the essence of Israel, not wars and fears and strategic challenges.”
She points out that so far tourism to Israel hasn’t been hurt by the most current Middle Eastern tension.
“It’s been one of the best years in tourism that we’ve known in 2010 and the beginning of 2011. Right now there are no signs of slowing tourism,” she said.
