The Science of Diplomacy (Ynetnews)

–  “Ben Gurion University Beersheba will this week host one of the most important events that I have been involved in since coming to Israel last year as Britain’s ambassador. It is a huge scientific conference between the UK and Israel in regenerative medicine. Sixty leading British academics will visit Israel for the conference, joining 200 academics from across Israel. And the conference will launch a major, five-year program of UK-Israel collaboration.

When I first became Ambassador to Israel, I said that I wanted to ensure that the relationship between the UK and Israel was about more than just our disagreements. We know the disagreements well – over settlements, for example, or more recently over some of the legislation currently before the Knesset. We have always done an excellent job of arguing with each other. But we have not always done a great job at working together in the areas where we both excel, where we both share a common goal, and where by working together we can be more than we can be working apart. One of those areas is science.”

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