​Mr. Chairman,

As is this is my first intervention, let me congratulate you on your election to chair the Fourth Committee and express our admiration for the professional and efficient manner in which you have led these sessions.

Mr. Chairman,

Generations of young and old have grown up captivated by space. My generation could all quote the eternal words of Neil Armstrong as he took the "giant leap" with mankind’s first small step on the moon.

Space was famously described as the "final frontier where man should boldly go where no one has ever gone before". Later generations invoked the brave cartoon astronaut Buzz Lightyear as he called for us to go to "Infinity and Beyond".

We could immediately recognize and associate dramatic music with space, accompanying Kubrick’s  "2001 - A Space Odyssey", or George Lucas’ score of the original Star Wars or David Bowie describing the wayward Major Tom as he floated high above the earth.

Many great space endeavors of our generation have now become memories - Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, Sputnik, Skylab and theSpace Shuttle. These were programs that seized our imagination and inspired the best that the human spirit, science, ingenuity, technology and imagination could offer.

We have blazed beyond 2001 and 2021 is right around the corner.
The challenge of the next generation is to apply that same motivation, commitment and creativity displayed by their predecessors to take us to the next level so we may best utilize space to better improve our lives - deal with nature’s challenges, improve communication between people and find ways to leverage space to help solve mankind’s greatest problems.

With the huge cost of space research and development, the leaders in the field must move beyond national competitiveness and continue on the path to cooperation with other nations, academia and the private sector. This joint work in space research can contribute to better understanding and tolerance among people and nations.

Mr. Chairman,

I am proud to represent a state that today stands at the forefront of science, human ingenuity and innovation. We are proud to be among eleven countries that have space-launch capability and the over 60 countries that own and operate approximately 1,200 active satellites.
Our commitment to scientific excellence has encouraged the human capital at our universities, research centers and our private entrepreneurs to work together and blaze this new path. We don’t see space as the "final frontier" but as the logical next step for us to test our abilities and focus creative energy.

The Israeli Space Agency is focused on just this kind of peaceful outer space cooperation as it promotes innovative scientific projects based on international collaboration.

The Agency has signed cooperation agreements with sister agencies from various countries, continues to expand links with international partners and has sought to advance a number of projects benefitting the international community at large.

Just last week we signed a ten year cooperation agreement with NASA. We see this as further testimony to what Israel has to offer in the field of civilian space research. As NASA Director Charles Golden said "Israel is known for its innovation and technology and this agreement gives the opportunity to cooperate with Israel on the journey to Mars."

One of the main objectives of Israel's National Civil Space Program is to position the State of Israel amongst the five leading space faring nations. Israel's strategic vision is to reach this objective through international cooperation. We invest almost 50% of the program's budget in international partnerships.

Last week  we also had the opportunity to demonstrate just such cooperation and commitment. For just the second time in 60 years, more than 3,500 space researchers, industry representatives, the heads of nearly 40 national space agencies, policy makers, former astronauts and cosmonauts, parliamentarians, students and exhibitors from 70 countries converged on Jerusalem for the annual International Astronautic Congress.

Among those attending was 85-year-old Edwin Eugene ("Buzz") Aldrin, who was part of the Apollo 11 team and the second man to walk on the moon.

Israel has made significant contributions to abilities in space, so it’s only natural that we hosted the largest scientific conference in this field. We were glad to be a place for the world space community to convene and enable the participants to complete joint projects for the good of science and mankind.

We are very glad that among the participants at the 66th annual congress were representatives from Arab and Muslim countries including from the Persian Gulf, Jordan and Egypt, as well as Indonesia.
Let me also remind the esteemed forum of Israel’s cooperation with the European Union, including the cooperation between both space agencies, ISA and ESA, and an active participation in the Horizon 2020 space initiative.

In addition, ISA has excellent cooperation with several European countries including France with the Venus Project and Italy with the SHALOM Project.

I also remind you of our cooperation with UN Agencies as we donated a model of our OPSAT 2000 series satellite to the United Nations - COPUOS which can be viewed at the United Nations Office in Vienna, Austria. Furthermore let me note our accession to the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response, also known as the UN-SPIDER initiative. As part of the Cooperation with SPIDER we are providing free of charge commercial EROS images and sharing expertise in disaster management. We are also proud of the agreements that are being formed between UNOOSA and the State of Israel.

We continue to seek additional partners in our efforts, as we build the platform for future cooperation with space agencies and relevant organizations around the world, and reenergize existing connections, in a joint effort "to boldly go where no man has gone before."

Mr. Chairman,

On October 7th Israeli President Reuven Rivlin hosted the members of the SpaceIL venture at his residence in Jerusalem. The SpaceIL venture is attempting to build the first Israeli spacecraft to the moon, as a contestant in the international competition, Google Lunar XPrize, which sees participants from around the world competing for the chance to land an unmanned spacecraft on the moon. This Israeli venture had secured a place on board the American giant aerospace rocket launcher SpaceX.

The project's success will be a major milestone in the development of Israeli technology. So far only three countries have landed a spacecraft on the moon - China, the US, and the former Soviet Union. But we too still strive to see the footprints of Armstrong and Aldrin.

Mr. Chairman,

Earlier this month, Facebook announced that it will use the Israeli AMOS-6 communications satellite, manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries, to provide Internet access to Sub-Saharan African nations as part of its internet.org project. The new satellite will be launched in the second half of 2016.

This important venture will allow those in the developing world to have equal access to the opportunities offered by modern communications technology.

In describing the new project, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that "to connect people living in remote regions, traditional connectivity infrastructure is often difficult and inefficient, so we need to invent new technologies. Connectivity changes lives and communities. We’re going to keep working to connect the entire world - even if that means looking beyond our planet."

Satellite networks offer a better way to connect people in remote areas that might not attract physical infrastructure, such as land lines or fiber-optic cables. In developing countries lacking in IT infrastructure, cellular phones were quick to overtake traditional landlines, and have been increasingly used for communication.

Increasing Internet access may open up a variety of opportunities to further aid development efforts. This arrangement will allow an estimated 14 million users to set up high-speed Internet connections for homes, businesses, or schools.

We are proud that very soon this Israeli satellite will also be able to make practical contribution to better communication among people thru the utilization of space.

Mr. Chairman,

Space is indeed not the final frontier we once envisioned. It is today's frontier which we must peacefully embrace to learn how we may reap its benefits for all mankind. No one has territorial claims in space. It belongs to us all.

In David Bowie’s song, Major Tom viewed earth from space and he lamented that "planet earth was blue and nothing I can do". Today we need to see space as part of the solution that will enable new discovery and improve our daily lives.

Let us work together to meet this challenge.