By Michelle Cohen
HAKOL Editor

Consul General of Israel Dani Dayan will spend a packed day in the Lehigh Valley on Feb. 6 to educate different segments of the Jewish community about Israeli-American relations. Dayan has a long-time reputation as an Israeli public figure, lecturer and entrepreneur, enjoying wide support and appreciation from all sides of the Israeli political spectrum.

His visit will kick off the Lehigh Valley’s Israel @70 celebration, which will continue throughout the year.

Dayan will begin his day with a lecture at Muhlenberg College for an honors-level comparative national security policy class, where he will interact with faculty, staff and students as he discusses this vital issue.

Next, he will speak at Lehigh University along with several other speakers at “Startup Nation: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Joint Venture Opportunities in the Lehigh Valley.” Here, he will discuss Israel’s history as a startup nation and explain how to take advantage of investment, both for Lehigh Valley companies in Israel and Israeli companies in the Lehigh Valley. He will be joined by Dennis Davin from the Department of Community and Economic Development; Vered Nohi, the executive director of the Philadelphia-Israel Chamber of Commerce; a representative from the Binational R&D (BIRD) Foundation; and Ben Wiener, the founder and managing partner of JumpSpeed Ventures, a venture capitalism business in Jerusalem.

Lehigh Valley companies in the life sciences, cyber and homeland security, advanced manufacturing, food technology and agro-technology fields are invited to attend this event, which is being run in partnership with LVEDC, the Philadelphia-Israel Chamber of Commerce, the BIRD Foundation, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Ben Franklin Technologies.

In the afternoon, Dayan will meet with local elected officials.

Following that, he will join the Lehigh Valley Jewish Clergy Group for a discussion about hopes and concerns for Israel. The clergy will share their observations of what they’re hearing from their communities, and engage in discussion about how to go in a positive direction.

Finally, Dayan will brief the community about Israel’s upcoming 70th birthday and how far the U.S. and Israel’s relationship has come since the founding of the state. This event will occur at the Jewish Community Center at 7 p.m. and is open to everyone.

For more information, or to sign up to attend the community briefing, please contact Aaron Gorodzinsky at aaron@jflv.org or 610-821-5500 ext. 337.