On Tuesday, June 26th, the Jewish Federation of the Greater San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys hosted a town hall meeting with Consul General David Siegel. The event provided a unique setting for an open discussion about the challenges and the opportunities facing Israel and the Middle East today. Before the event, Consul General Siegel sat down for an interview with Brenda Gazzar, a reporter for the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group.

"This entire region is very fluid, very unstable and very dangerous, and that's again even before what's happening with Iran and their impact on the region," Siegel said.

But despite all of its challenges, Israel has still managed to become one of the top high-tech hubs in the world and boasts 10 Nobel Prize winners. A Google executive last week called Israel "a high-tech miracle." Apple has set up a research and development plant in Haifa and recently bought an Israeli company that makes flash memory technology for nearly half a billion dollars. Israel boasts more than 200 R&D centers today for companies such as Intel, IBM and Motorola, Siegel said.

"In two short generations, we've gone from a stateless people, a stateless nation, to a start-up nation and now to a global nation."