Israel Consul General Roey Gilad visited the University of Wisconsin-Madison Thursday to promote collaboration between the campus and Israel and addressed issues facing the country during a lecture he gave at UW Hillel.
Gilad is in charge of representing Israeli interests in 11 Midwest states, including Wisconsin. He has been to Madison twice previously and during his second visit he met with Gov. Scott Walker. During Thursday’s visit, he focused primarily on UW-Madison.
“I try to build bridges between Israel and those states and the interests are wide, but we make sure universities always remain high on the agenda,” Gilad said in an interview with The Daily Cardinal.
Gilad has worked for the last 25 years as an Israeli diplomat. Altogether, he has completed four overseas missions, including working in Nairobi, Jordan, United Kingdom and currently, at his home base in Chicago.
During his visit, Gilad met with multiple campus entities, including the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery and the study abroad program in addition to meeting with Chancellor Rebecca Blank to explore opportunities for cooperation between Israel and UW-Madison.
“We are all working for the same mission, to bring the state of Wisconsin and the University of Wisconsin and the state of Israel closer,” Gilad said.
He discussed the ways he is working to strengthen this relationship, including conducting a seminar in Chicago for student leaders all over the United States. He said UW-Madison student Lila Greenberg represented the university at the conference.
“I believe Israel is enjoying a great support in the U.S., but in the Midwest in particular,” Gilad said. “But it doesn’t go without saying, you have to make sure this support will always be there and so this is what we’re doing.”
According to Gilad, there are around 5,000 Jewish students at UW-Madison, which contribute to approximately 10 percent of the student body. He expressed excitement at the opportunity to visit campus, especially the Hillel building because of its significance to the Jewish community.
“Hillel here is second to none, it is known all over America, inspiring Hillels all over the U.S. and in Israel, so I came also to pay tribute,” Gilad said.
He also discussed some of the challenges facing Israel today, including cultural and regional friction with Palestine, Egypt and Iran in addition to conflict with Shiite-Sunni groups.
