Chemi Peres (left), Chairman of the Chamber, hosted Senator Scott Brown (R-MA), (right) - elected seven months ago, the first Republican Senator from Massachusetts since 1967 - on Aug. 17, at the Dan Hotel in Tel Aviv. This was Senator Brown's first visit to Israel, doing so after meetings with the U.S. forces in Afghanistan, in Jordan and with the Palestinian Authority.
Senator Brown said he believed Jordan wanted to be a deciding force in the peace process and, he believes, time is of the essence. "If the process is too lengthy – it will reach a point of no return," he said. The Republican Senator noted that he is battling President Obama's agenda regarding taxes, explaining that the administration must lower taxes on individuals and companies to combat rising unemployment, as well as cut billions in government spending ASAP.
Participants included Dani Ziv, CEO of Plasan Sasa; Zeev Zelig, Managing Director of Genzyme Israel; Jonathan Heimer, Senior Commercial Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Israel; Rafael Harpaz, Director of the Economic Department for America & Africa at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who has recently served in Washington, and Tamar Guy, Executive Director of the Chamber.
