Distinguished diplomats, 

Friends,

Welcome! And a very special welcome to the man who literally wrote the book on diplomacy, Henry Kissinger.

Ladies and Gentleman,

A Druze, an Iraqi, and a Libyan come to the United Nations to turn up the heat for Israel. It sounds like the beginning of a joke, but I’m not talking about a Security Council debate, I’m talking about tonight’s featured chefs!

It is my pleasure to welcome friends and colleagues from all over the world to Israel’s 67th birthday.  

In 1948, a week into Israel’s War of Independence, Life magazine published an article assessing Israel’s chances for survival.  Israel had 90,000 soldiers, about 40,000 guns, and many of its soldiers were Holocaust survivors who didn’t speak a word of Hebrew.  Our tiny country - the size of Connecticut - faced seven Arab armies with 800,000 soldiers. Time and ‎geography were on the side of the Arabs.  The forecast was not optimistic – and yet, against impossible odds we were victorious.

David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister said, “In Israel, in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles.” 

Today we’re celebrating the miracle & hard work that’s made Israel the thriving & prosperous democracy it’s today

Ladies and gentlemen,

Tonight we are ‘celebrating diverse Israeli flavors’ – a fitting theme given that Israel has a reputation for spicing things up at the UN.

Israel is a melting pot of cultures, peoples, and ethnicities.  No wonder the melting pot can sometimes be a boiling pot – but the dish that comes out of the oven is amazing. 

From the outside, Israel looks noisy, undisciplined, and chaotic.  And mostly it is!

But the reason for the cacophony is that we are challenging the existing paradigms and turning our weaknesses into strengths.

I’m sure you’re all familiar with Bernard Lewis’s book “What Went Wrong,” but when it comes to Israel, the book would be called “What Went Right!”

The story of Israel is the story of doing the impossible.  We cultivated a barren land and made it flourish using desalination and drip irrigation.  We took a nation of immigrants and built a prosperous state that leads the world in technology, medicine, and agriculture.

The story of Israel’s success is a state secret – but in the spirit of celebration - I have decided to share it with you this evening.   Our secret weapon is the Jewish mother.

She is convinced that her child is a genius. The problem is that the world hasn’t recognized it yet.  When the child fails, she says don’t worry – it’s obvious that the world is wrong and you are right.  She teaches her child to continue trying until at last they succeed.  This encouragement drives Israel’s entrepreneurial spirit. 

Israel is a small nation, but a powerhouse of innovation.  You may find this hard to believe, but our small country exports gluten-free Pasta to Italy, wine to France, and caviar to Russia!

It has been a remarkable 67 years and we are just getting started.