FOCUS ON ISRAEL
A tale of two Israeli cities
Last week, Israelis had one more reason to be proud of themselves — one of their cities was singled out for a rare honor.
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Col. Uri Dromi, Israeli Air Force Reserve, is director general of the Mishkenot Sha'ananim conference center in Jerusalem. From 1996 to 2007, he was director of International Outreach at the Israel Democracy Institute. He was born in 1946 in Pardes Hanna, Israel. He is married to Dalia, and they have three children: Yael, Danny and Shai. Dromi served in the Israeli Air Force in 1964-89 as a navigator. Participated in the Six Day War, War of Attrition, the Yom Kippur War, the Lebanon War and flew many operational missions.
He was the chief education officer of the Israeli Air Force and the editor-in-chief of the IAF Magazine and the IDF Publishing House. Retired from active duty in 1989, he keeps flying regularly in the reserves, in the same squadron he joined in 1966. From 1989 to 1992, he was the North American director of information for the World Zionist Organization. In 1992-96, Dromi was the director of the Government Press Office, being the chief spokesman for the Rabin and Peres governments.
Dromi graduated from Ben Gurion University (history) and started doctoral studies at the Hebrew University. He teaches communications at the College of Management in Tel Aviv and military history at the Command and Staff College. He has published three books and numerous articles in Israeli and international newspapers.
As Israelis look at developments around them, they have reason to be concerned. Hezbollah in the north is arming itself, while Hamas in the south is a constant threat. Bashar al-Assad is butchering his Syrian countrymen, and one wonders whether it’s worse for such a bloody dictator to remain in power amid a fragile stability, or for him to go, opening up a Pandora’s box as in Iraq.
Last week, Israelis had one more reason to be proud of themselves — one of their cities was singled out for a rare honor.
Two Israelis made world headlines this week. In freezing Stockholm, Prof. Dan Shechtman of the Haifa-based Technion (Israeli technological institute) won the Nobel Prize in chemistry. In sunny Perth, Australia, Lee Korzits won the gold medal at the women’s Sailing World Championships, bringing her closer to the 2012 London Olympics.