As I participated in the historic Global Investment Forum 2021 in Dubai organized jointly by the Khaleej Times and The Jerusalem Post on June 2, Israel’s political world was changing dramatically. Yair Lapid, Naftali Bennett and Mansour Abbas were set to sign a coalition deal, Lapid would inform outgoing President Reuven Rivlin that he had succeeded in forming a new government, and Isaac Herzog was voted in by the Knesset as Rivlin’s successor.
It signaled the likely end of the era of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Likud leader who has been at Israel’s helm for more than a dozen years. In Dubai, though, the focus was on boosting the 2020 Abraham Accords by discussing ways to promote the already flourishing cooperation between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. It was an exciting event, star-studded with VIPs from the UAE, Israel, the US, Morocco, India and Canada.
On stage at the Armani Hotel next to Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, I was honored to interview legendary Israeli philanthropist and entrepreneur Morris Kahn. Kahn, 91, told the audience that “the Abraham Accords actually broke the ice, with the foresight of the Emiratis who saw what the potential was.”
In the interview, the SpaceIL chairman – who was a major donor to the first Beresheet (Genesis) mission to the moon that cost some $100 million – announced that Beresheet 2 was scheduled for mid-2024, and he urged the UAE to join the initiative. Abu Dhabi’s New Hope probe reached the orbit of Mars in February 2021.
“SpaceIL have decided to launch Beresheet 2,” Kahn said, adding that it would be more advanced and sophisticated than the first Beresheet spacecraft, which crash-landed on the moon in 2019. “I think it would be wonderful if we could develop a space program which is a combination of Israel and the Arab world... I personally would welcome it if it fits in with the program that the Emirates have – and they have a very ambitious program. I can think of nothing better, and for me this would be the pinnacle of my achievement and my involvement in space.”
What prompts Kahn, a billionaire who founded Amdocs – one of Israel’s first start-up powerhouses – to donate so much of his money to philanthropic projects such as Save a Child’s Heart, which has saved the lives of some 5,700 children from around the world, and the Jinka Eye Project, whose surgeons have restored the sight of thousands of Ethiopians? “I think what motivates me is the feeling of empathy for other people,” he said. “I have been fortunate, but I think my heart really goes out to those who are less fortunate than we are.”
After the interview, which was warmly received by the audience in Dubai, my colleague Tovah Lazaroff remarked that Netanyahu – like Moses, who led the Israelites out of Egypt but wasn’t fortunate enough to enter the promised land – had steered Israel to signing the Abraham Accords but would not be in office long enough to watch the country reap the full benefits of the normalization agreement.
We can only pray that his successors, Bennett and Lapid, are able to extend the Abraham Accords to other countries in the region, advance peace with the Palestinians, and strengthen coexistence between Jews and Arabs in Israel.
It is significant that they forged an alliance with an Arab party. Will they succeed in restoring stability and prosperity and put Israel on the road to recovery as it emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic? If Kahn and his team at SpaceIL can send a spacecraft to the moon, why can’t they?
As they say in Arabic, inshallah!