We're pleased to share a short video of our program alumni - Rotem Yadlin, mayor of the Gezer municipality, and Alon Davidi, mayor of Sderot - from the recent CityLab conference in Washington D.C. alongside hundreds of city leaders worldwide.
In his opening remarks, Michael Bloomberg noted that this year the conference was missing an enormous contribution - the Israeli delegation.
Israeli city officials were meant to join us. Instead of attending the conference, they are now attending funerals of loved ones, searching for missing neighbors, housing those left without homes, donating blood, and busy assisting wherever possible.
Rather than gaining knowledge here, they are gaining first-hand tragic experience in crisis leadership back home. Our thoughts are with them during these difficult times. Their steadfast commitment to serve their cities and citizens in the face of violence is inspiring.
We hope next year the Israeli delegation can share their unique insights on resilience, social cohesion, and effective local governance with the global city leadership community. Their experiences have so much to teach us all.
