Leader of Israeli Labor Party Reads Lecture at G.Robakidze University
While on a trip to Georgia, Amir Peretz, the Chairperson of Israel’s Labor Party, commonly known as HaAvoda, visited Israeli House, a functioning organization in Tbilisi to discover what it is working on.
Itsik Moshe, the Head of Israeli House, noted that the organization aims to encourage the development of relations between the states of Israel and Georgia and present Israel in its friend country - Hasbara. The organization was founded six years ago and has since cooperated with friendship groups of the Israeli and Georgian parliaments, improving and strengthening the friendship between the two states.
Amir Peretz evaluated that the concept of Israeli House in Georgia answers well to Israel’s interests in forming and improving friendly connections with other countries. He stated that objective information must be spread about the State of Israel, which is something Israeli House “has managed very successfully.” Peretz further noted that he is learning in-depth about Georgia and plans to actively involve himself in improving connections between the two countries.
Peretz was accompanied by Yehiel "Hilik" Bar, a member of the Labor Party of Israel, and the former Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, currently the head of the Georgia-Israel Friendship Group.
The Israeli guests visited the Grigol Robakidze University in Tbilisi, where, with the support and on the initiative of Israeli House, a special course is run dedicated to Israel and Holocaust History. The course is taught by Professor Nona Chanturia.
Israeli State officials, Mr. Peretz and Bar gave a two-hour public lecture to the students of the university.
The former Minister of Defense of Israel noted during the lecture that democratic institutes are as important to Israel as strong self-defense. He remembered his personal story, stating that he was born in Morocco where the holocaust would never touch him or his family; they were well-off but despite their “good” life, his parents decided to leave everything behind and go back to their motherland of Israel. When they returned, they found a desert in the place of Israel. At first, they lived in camps but through hard work and love for their country, they developed Israel and it is now one of the leading countries in the world.
“Our country is an example of how you can start from zero and reach great success,” stated Amir Peretz.
Hilik Bar talked about the importance of peace for Israel. He stated that despite the various views of different political parties on how peace can be reached, Israeli society stands firm on one, united ground: peace can be reached and the region needs it as much as Israel.
Moshe in turn talked shortly about the relations between the States of Georgia and Israel, noting that the new generation has an important mission tobring the two countries’ connections to an even higher level.
As the lecture came to a close, guests took and answered questions from the audience. In the next few days, Tbilisi will host a group of twenty guests, consisting of social activists, media representatives and public figures who influence the views of Israeli society, from Israel. Within the frames of the ‘taking care of Georgia’s public image’ campaign, Israeli House will give the group detailed information on the potential of Georgia, and they will discover the work and activities of Public Service Hall.