U.S. ambassador attends the inauguration, praises his government’s ties to the school despite its controversial location in Samaria.
By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
Israel’s newest medical school opened its doors to 70 students at Ariel University on Sunday in a festive inauguration attended by U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.
Friedman’s presence stood in stark contrast to the previous administration, which would not even invite those who studied in the school to an event with then-President Barack Obama for Israeli university students. The reason was its location in the Samaria region, an area claimed by Palestinians for a future state.
The ambassador stressed in his remarks that under President Trump, “We at the State Department are very proud to work so closely with Ariel University, along with other universities in Israel.”
In 2019, for the first time since becoming a university seven years ago, Ariel students had joined an exchange program run by the State Department.
Friedman also praised the university for being a model of coexistence, as it accepts students regardless of their religion. According to university statistics, some nine percent of its student population is non-Jewish.
In a tweet following the ceremony, he said, “Honored to speak today at the opening ceremony of Ariel University Medical School. Congrats to the faculty, staff & students of this leading institution; looking forward to exciting advancements in the health sciences for the benefit of all in the region, Jew, Muslim or Christian.”
The Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson School of Medicine is only the sixth facility of its kind in the country. As education minister, Naftali Bennett had pushed the Council for Higher Education to approve its establishment, which it did in April after a two-year battle in which its location played an out-sized role.
“This is a triumph of common sense over narrow interest,” Bennett said at the time in a reference to the leftist pressure to prevent the school from opening, “and I am proud of it.”
Israel suffers from a lack of physicians in comparison to other countries in the Western world. According to the Ministry of Health, there are 3.1 doctors for every 1,000 people, below the OECD average of 3.3 per thousand, and well behind the first-place Austrians with 5.1 per 1,000 people.
The number that Ariel University will directly affect in some seven years’ time is that of medical studies graduates. Israel lags far behind other OECD countries in this category, with 6.8 graduates per thousand when the OECD average is 12.1, and top-spot Ireland has a whopping 24.4 graduates for every thousand people.
A new medical center is currently being built in Ariel as well, with a target opening date in 2022.