2013 Briefing Book - Print Version - Aipac

RELATIONSHIP
Israel is working to become the first country to begin the mass deployment of electric cars.
exacerbating national and economic security risks. Oil imports in 2011 accounted for more than
half of the U.S. trade deficit, costing the United States $367 billion against the backdrop of a
struggling economy. This tremendous transfer of wealth, moreover, benefits the very petro-regimes
that threaten America’s national security.
Israel Is Committed to Eliminating Its Use of Oil
The government of Israel understands the strategic perils of oil dependence and, in September
2010, launched an ambitious plan to significantly reduce oil’s role in its transportation sector.
Israel is dedicating significant resources to long-term research and development into alternative
fuels and infrastructure modernization projects. The government is working hand-in-hand with the
private sector, academia and advanced research institutes to launch pilot and demonstration projects
and to establish a one-stop regulatory center to expedite promising technologies from lab to road.
International cooperation, including with the United States, is a primary goal of the initiative.
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on September 9, 2010, “I view this as a national
goal of the highest importance because the addiction to oil has led to the Western world being
dependent on the oil-producing countries and harms the standing and security of the State of Israel.”
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