Last week, I was honored to testify in favor of Senator Phil King’s proposed Texas Senate Concurrent Resolution 24 (SCR 24), supporting an even stronger relationship between Texas and Israel, as well as establishing a new Texas Trade and Investment Office in Jerusalem:
This resolution is an important step toward guaranteeing that the ties between Texas and Israel – the two ‘Lone Star’ states – remain firm at a time when Israel faces unprecedented challenges in the region. It also affirms the importance of our core shared values – a commitment to innovation, independence, democracy, and the security of our communities.
Texas and Israel have much in common—solidified through an historic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) established between the Texas Association of Business (TAB), the Texas Venture Alliance (TVA) and Israel’s StartUp Nation Central (SNC) last year. Representatives from across the political aisle were proud to join our trade mission to Israel last summer, further strengthening the unbreakable bonds between the ‘Start-Up Nation’ (Israel) and the Scale-Up State (Texas).
Israel, more than any other country, is a leader in innovation—meanwhile, as the eight-largest economy in the world, Texas is the go-to place for taking a fledgling business and turning it into a powerhouse of global importance. Texas-Israeli collaboration will continue to be a key part of making our state the engine that drives the cutting-edge technologies of tomorrow.
Israeli ingenuity has led to enormous investment in the nation’s own defense and Americans are recognizing that these startups have incredible value for America’s defense sector. By supporting the creation of a Texas Trade and Investment Office in Israel, the Texas Legislature is proactively engaging with the Israeli business community in ways that will result in a major return on investment financially, diplomatically, and defensively.
Speaking at Israel's first defense-tech summit last December, Lorne Abony of Texas Venture Parters – which was launched last year with $50 million in planned investment in Israeli defense firms – made clear: "There is a renaissance now in defense tech that plays absolutely perfectly into this ecosystem that exists here in Israel."
Importantly, establishing this strategic relationship with Israel – as the resolution makes clear – puts Texas at the “center of trade and investment activities” for the countries that are part of the Abraham Accords – the landmark 2020 agreement negotiated under the first Trump administration that established full diplomatic and commercial relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain, as well as Morocco in early 2021. This is the most important effort to bring peace and prosperity to the region since the Camp David Accords in 1978.
With new business exchange between Israel and the UAE – home to the regional economic powerhouses of Dubai and Abu Dhabi – we are hopeful that Saudi Arabia, the region’s preeminent energy producer and longtime economic partner for the Lone Star State, will soon join its neighbors as a party to the Abraham Accords.
Last week, TAB hosted a roundtable discussion and reception featuring Representatives Giovanni Capriglione (R-Southlake) – who is sponsoring Concurrent Resolution 90 in the Texas House as a counterpart to SCR 24 – and Pat Curry (R-Waco), focusing on the Texas-Israel relationship and the proposed Texas Trade and Investment Office in Jerusalem. We were thrilled to be joined by Dr. Amit Elazari, Co-Founder and CEO of Open Policy and Ory Schein, Executive Director and Cyber Attaché to North America for the Israel National Cyber Directorate, and Simone Leeden, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASD) for the Middle East, to explore the wide range of opportunities for collaboration between Texas and Israel in cybersecurity, national security, and dual-use technology.
With successful trade offices already established in the capital cities of two of our most important trade partners – Mexico and Taiwan – it is only fitting that we expand this model through establishing a hub in the Middle East. While many states have trade offices in Israel, Texas will be unique by placing ours in the eternal, undivided capital of Israel: Jerusalem. This is more than a statement, it’s history. By doing so, Texas will align itself with official U.S. foreign policy by following in the steps of the Trump administration.
This has personal meaning to me. When I worked for U.S. Senator Jon Kyl, I had the great honor of working on the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act. Presidents continuously exercised their waiver to not move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem until President Trump made the historic decision in 2018 to officially move the U.S. Embassy and, in doing so, proclaim America’s support for the truth that Jerusalem is, and has always been, the capital of Israel.
TAB President & CEO Glenn Hamer at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem in 2020.
More broadly, passing this resolution and establishing a new Texas Trade Office in Jerusalem is a clear signal to the other countries in the Middle East that signing onto the historic Abraham Accords has direct trade benefits. This closer cooperation will invariably bring increased stability to a region that has enormous untapped economic potential, putting Texas in an even stronger position to lead in advancing our state’s international commercial relationships.
TAB commends members of the legislature of both parties who have demonstrated their overwhelming support for SCR 24. We thank Chairman King for his steadfast leadership on this issue, along with the continued leadership of the most pro-Israel and top job-creating Governor in the nation, Governor Greg Abbott. With the Middle East on the verge of a new era of economic prosperity and – hopefully – peace, the Best State for Business must seize the enormous opportunity and economic potential of enhancing our ties with Israel and its dynamic business community.
- Glenn Hamer, President & CEO, Texas Association of Business
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