BEVERLY HILLS—On November 10th, city officials of Hezliya, Israel and Beverly Hills signed a partnership agreement to promote cooperation, understanding and friendship.
Beverly Hills Mayor Julian A. Gold and Israeli Consul General David Siegel hope to address task force concerns, trade delegations, professional exchanges, and collaborations between educational and cultural institutions.
The agreement, which was adopted at the September 1 meeting, highlights such factors as cyber security, public health, emergency services, disaster preparedness, public safety, counter-terrorism, art and culture.
According to a press release by the City of Beverly Hills, the agreement was part of the Duet Gala, which featured the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Maestro Zubin Mehta at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills.
Beverly Hills is currently the sister city of Cannes, France. The Los Angeles jurisdiction is also partnered with Acapulco, Mexico and the Pudong District of Shanghai, China, according to sister-cities.org. The site claims that the city of Beverly Hills is also currently seeking a relationship with a Western European and an Italian city, in hopes of cultural exchanges, as well as promoting youth exchange programs and developing economic partnerships. Program Operations Specialist Ryan Park informed Canyon News that the MOU with Israel is unique and the city is not pursuing the same with any other country.
Mayor Gold, who is also a doctor of Anesthesiology at Cedars Sinai Hospital, recently released a statement to the City of Beverly Hills in regards to the agreement:
“This partnership will allow us to further strengthen our commitment to Israel. Beverly Hills will greatly benefit from Israel’s leadership in many areas that are of great concern and interest to our community,” says Gold.
“We look forward to working with the City of Beverly Hills to share best practices, ideas and solutions aimed at increasing water conservation and innovation as we face California’s drought as well as Israel’s water challenges,” said David Siegel, Consul General of Israel.
Previous cooperative exchanges with between the two cities include renaming a Beverly Hills street, located near Temple Emanuel to Herzl Way to honor revered Zionist Theodor Herzl, City’s Centennial art contest including participants from Herzliya, Israel and a free lecture series that features Israeli authors at the Beverly Hills Forum.
