Dani Dayan
Dani DayanIdo Ben Porat

Israel's Consul General in New York, Dani Dayan, took part Sunday in the event marking the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the community of Karnei Shomron, which has been upgraded to the status of a local council with more than 8,000 residents.

Dayan spoke at an invitation-only event to a closed audience, and spoke about his diplomatic role in New York, which he said leans heavily on the Jewish presence in Samaria and on his previous role as chairman of the Yesha Council.

"When I'm in New York despite the physical distance, when I look out the window in my office or in my apartment, there is no time when I don't see Samaria. I really see it every time I look in the direction of Samaria. It is a miracle performed by G-d, and there is no time in which I look out the window and do not see the mountains of Samaria," Dayan said.

Dayan added: "This is the strength that allows me to represent the State of Israel, to represent the capital of the world - Jerusalem, in a city that for some reason thinks itself the capital of the world - New York."

"I represent Israel in the most important city in the world outside the Land of Israel, with the largest Jewish community in the world. Ultimately my strength comes from home, from a belief in the justice of our actions residing in Judea and Samaria," he said.

"Without this aspect of my personality, I have no doubt that the way in which I represent the State of Israel would be much more hollow and shallow, would be missing something, and would be more circumscribed," he added.

Dayan said that sometimes he wonders what role makes him feel more satisfied - his former role as chairman of the Council of Judea and Samaria (Yesha Council, ed.) or his current role as Israeli Consul General in New York.

"I want to say that both are the same, but I have no doubt that I could not fulfill my current role in the same way without the strength I received from residents of Judea and Samaria during the six years I headed the Yesha Council," he said.

In the end, the Consul pointed out, "What we do abroad is represent the Zionist enterprise, and the main component of the Zionist Enterprise today is us - the residents of Judea and Samaria. And therefore in a certain sense I see both roles as one continuum of Zionist activity."

"When I think of the settlement enterprise that we established here, as opposed to any other settlement enterprise - there are better watermelons in the Arava, other places have larger factories. So why is our settlement enterprise the most beautiful and deeply established in this country since the Zionist enterprise?

"It is an enterprise that combines work," Dayan replied, "industrial initiatives, universities, yeshivas, schools, factories, people in a variety of professions and occupations with very deep roots. There is no other enterprise built on the foundation we have created, based on faith, faith in the righteousness of the way we have chosen, faith in the fact that we are returning to the Land of the Patriarchs."

"In the United States there is a concept called the 'Bible Belt,' because people there strongly believe. We are the real 'Bible Belt,' and that's what gives the enterprise the strength which other enterprises lack."