A homeland security conference took place in a southern Mississippi town with an Air Force base and a shipbuilding yard.
Among those in attendance were the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard; a general from India, the world’s second-largest country; and representatives from Taiwan and South Korea, a U.S. ally in a key trouble spot.
But Israel was the star.
The International Homeland Defense and Security Summit, organized by the state government, was held Tuesday in this Gulf Coast city far from any Jewish population center, in a state the local Israeli consul visits only twice a year. But representatives of 16 Israeli companies attended, along with a delegation from its Defense Ministry and arms industry. And speakers, especially Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, couldn’t stop talking about it.
Bryant credited a national security conference he spoke at in Israel in 2016 as the inspiration for this one. One of the first pictures he showed during his speech was of him grinning with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
JTA