Another University of California, Irvine (UCI) week of hate against the Jewish state of Israel has wrapped up, and I would like to add a few post-mortem thoughts.

Several of my friends have remarked that the steam seems to have gone out of the Muslim Student Union’s (MSU) Israel Apartheid, aka “Palestine Liberation,” week. Perhaps it was the suspension over their disruption of Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren’s UCI lecture in 2010; perhaps it was the fact that they seem to be bringing back pretty much the same list of speakers with the same tired old message year after year. Attendance appeared to be down, consisting as it did of about thirty to fifty MSU students, a few curious on-lookers, or other students getting extra credit from their liberal professors to soak in the propaganda. A few people from the community attend to show support for Israel and provide some sort of intellectual challenges to the lies and exaggerations proffered by the speakers.

Hopefully, the MSU is catching on to the fact that the student body pays hardly any attention to them as they pass by the flagpoles on their way to and from lunch or class. For most students at UCI, the week of events has become more an annoyance than anything else. That said, I am not yet ready to proclaim this annual event dead, since another flare-up in the Middle East involving Israel will undoubtedly spur the activists to return to what they do best—congregate at the flagpoles.

Unsurprisingly, the campus paper, the New University, maintained its politically correct reputation in this week’s coverage via an article titled “Liberation,” which ran on the front page instead of the editorial section, where it belongs. A sampling:

Near the end of Ali’s speech, a Zionist Jew from the crowd yelled out, ‘We’re not allowed to live in our own country?’ Ali’s answer of, ‘It [Israel] is not your country.’ [Emphasis added.]

This week’s events featured almost the same lineup of speakers we have seen regularly in the past. Boring Ben White, the ever-annoying Berkeley professor Hatem Bazian, the misguided Hedy Epstein (who doesn’t realize to whom she is lending support), fiery Amir Abdel Malik Ali (who belies the claims of the MSU that they are some sort of mainstream religious organization that rejects anti-Semitism), and new this year, four unrepentant veterans of the Michael Oren-disrupting “Irvine 11,” who swear that if the Israeli ambassador ever returns to UCI, they will be there to disrupt again. To this day, they refuse to acknowledge that Ambassador Oren has a right to speak.

MSU members also remained true to form by limiting opposing views from audience members. During Q&A, they instruct the audience to ask a question that is pertinent to the speech, to be respectful, and to return to one’s seat before one’s question will be answered. They then interrupt to tell anyone who attempts to interject a comment to get to his question. Anyone who deviates is instructed to cease and return to his seat. It is, of course, a skillful way of limiting the “dialogue” in which they claim to engage.

I heard a lot of talk last week about suffering, victims, and justice, but only regarding the Palestinians. Did anyone mention the slaughter of the Fogel family, including three children, one a couple of months old? Yes: I did. No one was impressed.

Another low point came after Hedy Epstein’s talk, when several of us in the audience were approached by a disturbed man around forty years old who looked like Popeye. He was clearly not well and looking for a fight, and he showed us a map depicting the demographics of Israel at various times. He stuck it in the face of the young man sitting next to me, at which point the campus police moved in and told him to get out of our space. At MSU’s events, even those in need of professional help are anti-Israel.

Although Malek Ali retiled his stump speech as “The Struggle Has no Borders,” the only new material was a reference to Trayvon Martin and the addition of University of California president Mark Yudon to his ever-growing list of “Zionist Jews.” When, during the Q&A, I took him to task for the latter, he asserted that there is a difference between referring to “Zionist Jews” and simply “Jews.” After his speech, a questioner pointed out to him his infamous quote from his 2010 appearance at UCI, when he told a Jewish questioner, “You Jews. Y’all the new Nazis.” That is a direct quote, yet he denied it, claiming that he always says “Zionist” Jews.

At least Malek Ali has stopped bringing his goons to flank him for “security,” as he did in 2006 when he called Rupert Murdoch a “straight up Zionist Jew.”

Which brings to mind another thought: what are the rest of the students on campus supposed to think when they see these MSU kids standing around in olive-green t-shirts, Palestinian scarves, and red bandannas? Who are they trying to intimidate?

As for the speakers, who ought to be ashamed of their actions since, unlike the students, they cannot claim the indiscretions of youth as an excuse, not only did several of them reuse their old material: they succeeded at times in losing the attention of their own audience, including their base: the MSU. Those poor kids. Each year duty compels them to attend all the events and listen to the same propaganda. Every spring they erect and dismantle that silly apartheid wall day after day. Being an anti-Israel activist must be exhausting. Let’s hope that, sooner or later, they awake to the fact that they are appealing only to fringe elements among both students and faculty.

Story via Campus-Watch

Emergency crew responding on scene of accident find themselves the target of violent mob

An emergency medical crew narrowly escaped being lynched this week while responding on the scene of an injurious car accident near Jerusalem, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Friday.

The fateful call came on Tuesday; a car carrying a group of Palestinian youths from east Jerusalem swerved off the road and hit a safety barrier near the village of Hizma.

Upon reaching on the scene the crew began treating two young women who were hurt in the crash. But their efforts were interrupted with the arrival of the victims’ family members, whose misguided attempts to defend the women quickly turned violent.

“Suddenly, a Volkswagen came to a screeching halt and three Arab youths emerged,” said S., a paramedic. “They started to curse and tried to discern who hurt the women.”

The crew’s account of the accident failed to pacify the enraged men, who upped the verbal attack.

“They started cursing the IDF, Magen David Adom and everything affiliated with the state,” S. said. “They called us ‘maniacs and f***ing Jews.’ We were shocked by how angry they were.”

Meanwhile, more Palestinians gathered around them. When some began hitting the ambulance, the paramedic took charge of protecting his crew mates – a female driver and a 16-year-old male volunteer.

“I told them to lock themselves in the ambulance while I remained outside to deal with the situation,” S. said, “The attackers cursed and pushed me. At one point more than ten people surrounded me and began punching me in the ribs and the head.”

‘Never seen anything like this’

A security officer from the nearby settlement of Ma’ale Levona who was alerted to the scene said that the three youths started to hit S. once a Palestinian ambulance arrived.

“They said, ‘our ambulance is here. Get out of here.’ And then they began punching him with their fists,” the officer, Shlomo Zaarur said.

The mob was dispersed with the arrival of the police, who arrested the three assailants, all of whom reside in east Jerusalem and possess Israeli identification cards. They were to be arraigned on Friday, and are expected to be indicted.

Prime minister calls latest round of talks another opportunity for Tehran to buy time.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed skepticism Friday that Iran would agree to halt its nuclear program.

Just days ahead of a crucial round of nuclear talks with Tehran, Netanyahu said a diplomatic solution would be the best option but “I see no evidence whatsoever that Iran is ready to end its nuclear program.”

He compared Iran to North Korea, saying the Islamic Republic might make meaningless concessions, or agree to terms but fail to implement them.

“It looks as though they see these talks as another opportunity to device and delay just like North Korea did for years,” he said. “Iran is very good in playing this chess game.”

The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany are gearing up for a May 23 meeting with Iran in Baghdad.

Talks reportedly revolve around to what degree Iran would be allowed to enrich uranium. Netanyahu said he wanted to see a total stop to their program.

Speaking in Prague Friday, Netanyahu called Iran’s nuclear program “the paramount issue of our time.”

He repeated Israeli demands to be met for the negotiations to be successful: all uranium enrichment inside Iran has to be frozen, its current stockpile of enriched uranium has to be shipped out of the country and an underground enrichment facility near the city of Qom has to be dismantled.

“When this is achieved, I’m the first one to applaud. But until then, you have to count me among the skeptics,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu did not present any ultimatums, but Israeli officials have said time is running out to avoid military action. Also the U.S. has said it has plans in place to attack Iran if necessary to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons.

Story via Times of Israel

I visited P&G office in Tel Aviv. Lital Asher-Dotan, who established Procter & Gamble first R&D hub in Israel called “P&G Israel House of Innovation”, explained why P&G calls Israel a “startup nation.”

In the entry lobby of P&G office, which is 20 minutes away from Google’s office in Tel Aviv, there are a few samples of different products sold by P&G in Israel. Among the usual health and beauty brands (Head & Shoulders, Pantene, Oral B, Gillette, Tampax, Pampers …) and brands of household cleaners (Ariel, Lenor, Swiffer, Tide …) there were also different prizes and trophies P&G Israel has received for the development of innovative products. However, what surprised me the most was that besides all these products and prizes there was a copy of the acclaimed book Startup nation by Dan Senor and Saul Singer.

Procter & Gamble takes Research and Development  seriously: it invests $2.8 Billion annually and has 9,300 employees in R&D worldwide. The Israel House of Innovation (IHI) was created five years ago by CEO Bob McDonald and one of the key goals is to create alliances between P&G and Israeli innovators.

Procter & Gamble’s Israel House of Innovation collaborates with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NASDAQ: TEVA; TASE: TEVA), the largest generic drug manufacturer in the world; the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which carries out more than 1/3 of all academic scientific research in Israel; Powermat, which has only 70 employees and is developing wireless battery rechargers. By the way, Jay-Z participates in the JV with Powermat and P&G  not only as a spokesperson but also as an investment partner.  P&G  has also signed on bilateral agreement with Israeli Chief Scientist providing Israeli start ups that collaborate with P&G favorable access to governmental funding.

Present in over 180 countries and with total revenues of about $80 Billion, P&G is the world’s largest Multinational consumer goods company. Procter & Gamble has promised to deliver 3-6 % of growth per year or about extra $5billion in annual revenue. Open innovation is the key to this growth: the giant established in 1837 aims to have 50% of all innovation (not only on new products but also on internal systems) having elements from outside of the company. Jeff Weedman, P&G Vice President, External BD:

            Our JV with TEVA represents the lessons learned that we need better access to Innovation and global abilities while we can provide the in-depth consumer knowhow.”

Lital Asher-Dotan explained why P&G calls Israel a startup nation:

-Israel has the highest density of tech start-ups in the world. Israel has about 80 companies listed on NASDAQ, more than all of Europe, Japan, Korea, India, and China combined.

-Israel is the biggest destination for global venture capital per capita. In recent years, many US based VCs have opened Israeli funds and/or Israeli offices – Sequoia ($580M), Benchmark ($490M). Greylock, Battery Ventures, Bessemer. Main accelerators in Israel are: Microsoft, VentureGeeks, The Junction, TechLoft, DreamIT Ventures,The Hive, UpWestLabs, The Library, and MobileMonday.

- Israel raises 2.5 times as much global venture capital as the U.S., 30 times more than Europe, 80 times more than India, and 350 times more than China.

-Israel has twice the number of engineers per capita than the US and Japan. 34% of its population holds university degrees (24% of the work force).

- Israel has the highest level of R&D spending relative to GDP in the world: 4,9% in 2009. OECD average is 2,3%.

- Israel holds the largest number of Nobel Prize winners this past decade. By the way, I had the chance to meet Dr. Dan Schechtman, winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “the discovery of quasicrystals,” who told me his views on entrepreneurship.

-In Israel, Military technology is often transferred to other areas. For instance, Based on real-time image processing technology from Rafael’s Missile Division, Dr. Gabi Iddan from Given Imaging developed the PillCam™ capsule endoscope – the first ingestible camera in a pill for detection of GI disorders. The PillCam™ capsule is easily ingested by the patient and transmits high quality color images that enable physicians to directly visualize parts of the GI tract.  Capsule endoscopy is the only available ingestible diagnostic tool that allows direct visualization of the small intestine.

I have just outlined the key points why Israel is considered by P&G as a startup Nation. In a post for Techcrunch, Roi Carthy and Daniel Cunha, founders of Initial Capital, suggest what the Brazilian booming startup community could learn from the Israeli case.

Story via Forbes

Israeli actor Alon Aboutboul makes an appearance on NCIS’ finale last night!

LA based Israeli actor Alon Aboutboul was at the center of last night’s season finale of “NCIS: LA”. His Iranian character was part of the mystery, as images of him appeared on screen linking him to the show’s current villain, “The Chameleon”, played by veteran French actor Christopher Lambert. Aboutboul is rumored to continue the storyline at the beginning of the 4th season of the top rated US show come fall. Meanwhile in July you will be able to see him in the highly anticipated Batman film “The Dark Knight Rises”.

via Walla

Iranian nuclear negotiator says world powers must show respect for rights of Iranian nation at upcoming nuclear talks in Baghdad, warns pressure only serves to encourage Iran to localize nuclear technology.

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili warned Thursday that applying pressure on the Islamic Republic in upcoming nuclear talks would not impede Iran’s nuclear progress, but rather it would serve to encourage Tehran to localize nuclear technology.

Representatives from Iran and the P5+1 group of world powers held talks on Iran’s controversial nuclear program in Istanbul on April 14 and were scheduled to meet again on May 23 in Baghdad.

On Thursday, Press TV quoted Jalili as saying that the Baghdad talks must seek “cooperation” based on respect for the rights of the Iranian nation. He rejected the notion that time was running out for dialogue.

“Today, what is running out is the time for applying pressure and this approach has failed to bear results,” Jalili stated.

Western diplomats said Wednesday that Iran is installing more centrifuges in an underground plant but does not yet appear to be using them to expand higher-grade uranium enrichment that could take it closer to producing atom bomb material.

They say Iran’s production of uranium refined to a fissile concentration of 20 percent, which it started two years ago, seems to have remained steady in recent months after a major escalation of the work in late 2011 and early this year.

Getting Iran to stop the higher-level enrichment is expected to be a priority for world powers when they meet with Iran in Baghdad next week.

Nuclear bombs require uranium enriched to 90 percent, but much of the effort required to get there is already achieved once it reaches 20 percent concentration, shortening the time needed for any nuclear weapons “break-out.”

Tehran denies Western accusations of a nuclear weapons agenda and says it has a sovereign right to peaceful nuclear technology, repeatedly rejecting UN resolutions calling for a suspension of all uranium enrichment.

But it has at times appeared more flexible when it comes to the refinement to a fissile concentration of 20 percent, which it says it needs to fuel a medical research reactor in Tehran.

Experts say that initially getting Iran to stop this work could open a way to ease the deadlock.

Story via JPost

GOP contender reportedly hoping to snatch Jewish votes as presidential campaign heats up.

Republican lawmakers are encouraging the presumptive Republican nominee for president, Mitt Romney, to visit Israel soon, saying that such a trip would push American Jewish voters into his camp.

Republicans told the Congressional newspaper The Hill that a trip to Israel would emphasize the fact that President Barack Obama has yet to visit Israel during his term of office, and would certainly give Romney an edge in the upcoming US elections.

Media reports indicate Romney may take the advice and visit.

Advisers believe that a trip to Israel by Romney would also advance US-Israeli relations. “It would be a good visit for him,” National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions told conservative site Newsmax.

Rumors about Romney’s possible trip to Israel began spreading a few weeks ago, but have become more credible in the past week, with a wide range of sites picking up the story.

A Jewish Republican activist told the Israeli news site Globes: “Everyone is talking about a possible visit by Romney to Israel in a few months,” although he could not confirm nor deny the rumor. ”It would be a genius move by Romney,” he said.

Romney has been friends with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since both men worked at together at the Boston Consulting Group in the mid-1970s.

Romney has promised that Israel would be his first foreign trip as president. In December 2011 he told the Republican Jewish Coalition’s Presidential Candidates Forum: “I will travel to Israel on my first foreign trip. I will reaffirm as a vital national interest Israel’s existence as a Jewish state. I want the world to know that the bonds between Israel and the United States are unshakable.”

Obama visited Israel in 2008 while he was a presidential candidate but has not been back since. During his presidency he visited 30 other countries.

Story via Times of Israel

Madonna, J. Lo, Red Hot Chili Peppers et al will be joined by indie acts like Afghan Whigs and ‘Boardwalk Empire’ theme song writers Brian Jonestown Massacre

Lenny Kravitz, the rocker/songwriter/producer/fashion designer, is set to play Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park on October 6.

He is joining a string of other international superstars — including Madonna, J. Lo, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Guns N’ Roses, Morrissey, and former members of The Doors  – who are stopping in Israel’s white city as part of their international tours this summer.

“This summer’s really gonna rock,” exclaimed Tel Aviv resident Dan Breslaw, an avid music-concert goer. There are a number of indie acts that Breslaw and his friends are excited about this summer, including Tortoise, Jon Scofield, The Mars Volta, The Afghan Whigs, and The Brian Jonestown Massacre (grungy composers of the theme to HBO’s Boardwalk Empire).

The tickets cost NIS 360 ($100).

Kravitz’s performance is part of his “Black and White in America” tour, named after his latest album, which refers to his mixed identity as a half-Jewish, half-black man growing up in the New York City.

Kravitz’s mother, actress Roxie Roker of the hit show “The Jeffersons,” was of Bahamian and African-American descent, and his father, Sy Kravitz, was a Jewish NBC television news producer and later became a jazz promoter. His parents were together during the 1960s — at a time when interracial couples were rare and the civil rights movement was at its peak.

The singer has often explored his dual-race background. He is reported to be working on a new album, “Negrophilia,” a reference to the French term negrophilie (which literally translates into “love of the negro”) that was used to describe artists’ passion for black culture in Paris in the 1920s.

Spirituality was also an important part of Kravitz’s growth, the singer said during an interview with NPR. He said he was shaped by his mixed-faith identity. Like fellow rocker Madonna, he is reported to be a student of Kabbala. Kravitz co-wrote and produced one of Madonna’s earliest hits, “Justify my love.”

Story via Times of Israel

Israeli diplomats say Ireland one of the top three countries in Europe in terms of anti-Israel hostility; Irish Justice Minister accuses activists of ‘cyberbullying.’

Irish writer Gerard Donovan has attacked the pro-Palestinian boycott movement for trying to “bully” him to abstain from visiting Israel and take part in the International Writers Festival in Jerusalem this week. Donovan, a prominent novelist and poet, accused the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) of “outright intimidation.”

Over the last few weeks, Donovan has been the focus of a campaign by pro-Palestinian activists to observe a pledge to boycott Israel, signed in 2010 by 219 Irish artists, and not to legitimize Israel’s occupation of the West Bank by participating in the writers’ festival. Open letters and petitions were addressed to him over the internet but Donovan, who is currently living in a cabin in New York and recovering from cancer, said in an interview with the Irish Times that he was unaware of the letters. He explained that he had cancelled his visit two months ago due to his ill health and that the activists were “idiots” for targeting him.

“If I had been well, I would have gone to Jerusalem,” he told the newspaper. “It is the job of the novelists to write things people don’t want to read and to go places where other people don’t want to go. Nobody tells me where I can or cannot read my work. I’m not going to allow myself to be drawn into any political controversy for any people’s ends, I don’t care how many other writers they line up, it is completely irrelevant to me.”

Last week, two Irish bands cancelled concerts in Israel due to pressure from the boycott movement. Cathy Jordan, the leader of Dervish, one of the bands, apologized for the cancellation saying that I wasn’t quite prepared for the extent of the venom directed at us.” Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter accused the activists of “cyberbullying.”

Israeli diplomats have said recently that “Ireland has become one of the top three countries in Europe in the terms of anti-Israel hostility. Any Irish group that travels to Israel is subject to an avalanche of hatred and it is almost impossible to organize Israeli cultural events here.”

When Donovan cancelled his visit two months ago, after initially confirming his arrival and his name appearing on the original festival program, some of the organizers were concerned that he had done so as a result of boycott pressures.

Uri Dromi, the manger of Mishkenot Sha’ananim that hosts the festival said that “there is an increasing feeling of cultural siege and despite our success in attracting major writers, some of them, particularly from Britain, have come under huge pressure not to participate.” He said that he had tried to invite South African writer and Nobel Prize laureate J. M. Coetzee “but he told me that he would come when the peace process goes forward.”

Dromi said that two British writers at the festival, Tom Rob Smith and Tracy Chevalier had been subjected to a major dose of online pressure and abuse for travelling to Israel. Rob Smith, whose first novel, Child 44, was a publishing sensation, told Dromi that he was very surprised by the attacks on his Facebook page but came anyway. Chevalier, author of bestseller Girl with a Pearl Earring, who has been to Israel before, asked Dromi if he could organize a meeting between her and Palestinian readers. “I tried to set up something in Ramallah and when that didn’t work, I enquired at Al-Quds University in Jerusalem but neither place was interested in cooperating with us.”

Israel’s ambassador in Dublin, Boaz Modai, said in response to the recent attempts at boycotting Israel that “I can’t say Ireland is hostile to Israel, but there are pockets of hostility, that sometimes veer into anti-Semitism, by pro-Palestinian elements that sabotage our relations. The fact that the Jewish community here is very small and that Israel has very few committed friends here also works against us.”

Story via Haaretz

Sitting with AnnaLynne McCord at Jerusalem’s Inbal Hotel on Sunday morning, the blond actress comes off as a regular person with some well thought-out opinions, and not as a Hollywood ‘celebrity’ one would expect. McCord is currently known for her role as Naomi Clark in CW’s 90210.

While her manager insists that she eat her omelet, McCord is excited to share her experience and perspective of Israel in what is her first trip to the country with the organization “America’s Voices in Israel.” McCord explains that she was not afraid to travel to Israel and was excited to meet the people who experience the country every day.

“I’ve heard a lot against Israel back home, but I always knew there was a lot more to this country than what I’ve read and seen in the news,” McCord told me.

“The first question that I’ve always thought about in regard to the conflict here is how much of it is a holy war?” McCord explains that she knows the Biblical history of the region well, having “grown up with the Bible” and believes that there is “no room for the world to judge Israel or anyone in this conflict.”

“I believe there are always three sides to the story — your side, my side and the truth,” said McCord. “Until you actually live in someone else’s shoes, you can never judge.”

“With all that negative coverage about Israel, I was amazed by the resilience, human spirit and optimism that people here have facing daily turmoil. You have to come see Israel for yourself to understand this — that people can still have an amazing existence, with love and patriotism, despite all the odds.”

The one characteristic that McCord says she particularly likes about Israelis is that “they don’t care what you think, what the world thinks. As an actress, I definitely relate to that because people write mean and nice things about me all the time. I do what I have to do, no matter what the critics say. Israel does the same.”

McCord and her acting colleagues, among them Omar Epps (House), Zach Roerig (Vampire Diaries) Paget Brewster (Criminal Minds), Mekhi Pfifer (8 Mile, ER), Paul Johansson (One Tree Hill), Holt McCallany (Lights Out), Holly Robinson Peete (Hangin’ Out With Mr. Cooper) were particularly impressed with Israel’s state-of-the-art facilities for special needs/disabled children.

Peete wrote that “this country is so ahead of ours when it comes to caring for children with autism…I’m inspired.”

The itinerary for the trip included visits to Jerusalem’s Meshi, a rehabilitation center and school for 196 children with severe neurological and muscular disabilities who receive the world’s top treatments, and the Na’Alagat Center in Old Jaffa, a theater group made up of deaf and blind people who are Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Druze.

For others, the trip reinforced the spiritual dimensions of the Holy Land. Omar Epps, on his second visit to Israel with America’s Voices in Israel, explained that it was the country’s “rich history, culture, people and energies” that drew him back. “For me personally, the spiritual significance of this place hits me to the core. The fact that the world’s three ancient religions meet in one place makes the holiness of this land so unique,” said Epps. “I’m bringing my kids here next time to experience this land together with my wife.”

Even the Dead Sea took on religious significance when Mekhi Phifer tweeted jokingly before the group’s descent to the world’s lowest elevation on land that he “might even get baptized in the Dead Sea.”

Visits and tours to Masada, the Golan Heights, Haifa,Tel Aviv, Jerusalem’s Old City and Christian sites including Mount of Beatitudes, Tabgha, Geinosar and the Church of Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem also left strong impressions on the stars.

“I would love to come back here to film a movie someday,” said Holt McCallany, Hollywood actor, writer and producer, who starred in Fox’s Lights Out.” It was amazing to be able visualize all these stories and settings,” he told me.

At the farewell dinner, Mekhi Phifer thanked Rabbi Irwin Katsof, director of America’s Voices in Israel for organizing the week-long trip from May 7-13. “It’s been a privilege to be enveloped in your culture,” Phifer emotionally told Katsof.

Rabbi Irwin Katsof has been involved in bringing missions to Israel for the past 20 years and today directs America’s Voices in Israel which was founded in 2001 and is part of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. He is a businessman, educator, author and successful entrepreneur, who has brought the likes of Starbucks founder, Howard Schultz and Lady Margaret Thatcher, and others, to Israel.

Katsof explains that his missions entail a no-strings attached rule. “The groups are presented with the facts, and have the opportunity to meet with Israelis across the spectrum. They come to their own conclusions about the country.”

May’s trip was a cooperative effort between the Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs, Ministries of Tourism and Foreign Affairs, El Al Israel Airlines and the Jerusalem Inbal Hotel.

For Israelis who caught a glimpse of the stars, excitement ensued as requests for photos and autographs were readily answered by the actors and actresses. The more well-known of the group, AnnaLynne McCord and Zach Roerig, found themselves posing with countless star-struck teenagers at Jerusalem’s Inbal Hotel.

“It’s a bit overwhelming,” said Zach Roerig. “I never expected so many fans in this region of the world.”

Story via Huffington Post