US Ambassador Visit

United States Ambassador to Israel Jacob J. Lew, visited the Technion on Tuesday, April 2, with embassy representatives. The delegation met with Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan; Senior Executive Vice President Prof. Oded Rabinovitch; Executive Vice President for Research Prof. Noam Adir; and Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Prof. Adi Salzberg.

Technion management with the ambassador’s delegation

President Sivan presented the delegation with the history of the Technion and its exceptional impact on the State of Israel. He led them on a tour of the David and Janet Polak Visitors Center and showcased some of the key discoveries by Technion researchers, including those that led to Nobel Prize awards.

Ambassador Lew earned his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from Harvard University and his JD from the Georgetown University Law Center. He was sworn in as Ambassador to Israel on November 2, 2023, following his service as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, White House Chief of Staff, and Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). After leaving the Department of the Treasury, Ambassador Lew served as Managing Partner at Lindsay Goldberg, as Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees at New York University, and as a faculty member at Columbia University.

Ambassador Jacob J. Lew looks at the Nano-Bible display at the Technion’s Polak Visitors Center

When asked about changes in relations between the Technion and Western academic institutions following the events of October 7, Prof. Sivan responded: “Certainly, some things have changed, but it is too early to determine if these are long-term changes. In any case, difficulties are more noticeable in the fields of humanities and social sciences and less so in the fields that are taught and researched at the Technion. It is important to clarify that it is acceptable to disagree, it is acceptable to have disputes, but it is essential to draw the line where freedom of expression is exploited for incitement. Indeed, the situation today is better in universities where administrations have made it clear that there are red lines.” The Technion President added: “We, the residents of Israel, are currently experiencing very great difficulties, but we are aware of the distress faced by Jews in the United States. It is our duty to be attentive to them and to assist them as much as possible.”