HE Ambassador Daniel Taub visited the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar from 27th-30th June, to encourage closer ties between Israel and Gibraltar. During the first day Ambassador Taub met HE the Governor of Gibraltar-who represents Her Majesty the Queen in Gibraltar, along with the Chief Minister of the Government of Gibraltar, the Leader of the Opposition, the Mayor, and the President of the Gibraltar Jewish community James Levy, together with other community leaders.
In the evening, Ambassador Taub addressed 250 Guests, who included Gibraltar’s top political leaders and members of the Consular Corps, together with members of the local Jewish Community. On Friday, the Ambassador addressed a large gathering of professionals from the Gibraltar Finance Centre, where the Guest of Honour was The Hon Gilbert Licudi QC, the Minister for Financial Services and Justice.
Both the Ambassador and the Minister considered Gibraltar’s potential role in helping Israeli companies to better access EU Markets. This, and other ideas discussed at the forum, will be discussed at a future meeting between the Gibraltar Government Minister and the Commercial Attache at the Embassy, when the minister next visits London, with a view to their exploring possible avenues of economic cooperation between Israel and Gibraltar.
At the end of the Friday evening service, which was kindly attended by the Chief Minister, the Choir sang “Hatikvah” in both Hebrew and Spanish and “God Save the Queen” in Hebrew. The Shabbat morning service, at Gibraltar’s main synagogue, was led by the youth and children of the community for the occasion. The Ambassador was “mobbed” by the children when he decided to hand out sweets after Tefilah. Following the service, the President hosted a private lunch with the Ambassador. In the late afternoon, the Ambassador and Mrs Taub were greeted with a standing ovation by the youth, when he addressed them at a Seudah Shelishi function and answered their many and varied questions. The final function was on the Sunday morning when he addressed a meeting of Israeli residents in Gibraltar and answered their many questions for over an hour, just before he departed for London. Both the Jewish Community and the Hon. Consulate were deeply grateful to Ambassador and Mrs Taub for their visit.
Ambassador Taub told reporters why he had come to Gibraltar:
‘My agenda is to identify trading partners in Gibraltar, to meet with the decision makers and to encourage social and trading links between our two countries.’
Ambassador Taub was struck by similarities between Gibraltar and Israel, commenting:
“We are talking about countries that are small, very vibrant countries, with an entrepreneurial spirit, which we hope have weathered the economic crisis with some degree of success And as of last week I can say we are both countries with teams in UEFA!”