Daniel Moran, a student in the Faculty of Computer Science at the Technion, won first place for his explanation of Israel, at an international symposium held in France. He preceded students from Italy, Spain, Turkey and Belgium, who explained their countries
The event was organized by IEP, the Department of Political Studies at the University of Marseille. This is a gathering of students from the countries of the Mediterranean basin, during which the participants are asked to present their countries in the best possible way. Daniel Moran presented a presentation he prepared with several of his friends, Yohai Stanzler from Ben Gurion University and Ella Mahloof from Tel Aviv University, and won first place.
"I started by quoting Churchill's words," he says. "When I'm outside my country - I don't say bad things about it, and when I return to it - I fill in the gaps." Later he presented the State of Israel as a riddle - how can a country so small and so young, surrounded by enemies and plagued by terrorism, already have eight Nobel laureates, is one of the seven countries in the world that has satellites in space, is a hi-tech power and has huge companies and leading companies in the world in the fields of medicine and the knowledge-intensive industry. His words were received with applause and the judges awarded him first place.
"Although the convention was held in France, I did not feel hostility from the other participants," he says. "The participating French students are the future politicians of France. A few professors actually irritated me, when they presented their opinions as facts. I argued with them a lot."
Daniel Moran, from Ashdod, is the youngest in his family, and the only one who applied to the academy. He has four sisters and two brothers, and the family makes a living from a family deli. He finances his studies by working at the Technion and at Intel and hopes to continue an academic career.
