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San Francisco, CA - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger attended Israel’s 60th Independence Day Festival in Van Nuys honoring his longtime friend Benny Alagem who served the State of Israel and the United States. Alagem, who served as an Israel tank commander, founded Packard Bell Electronics in 1986.

Some of the text of Schwarzenegger remarks below.

Well, first of all, I want to say thank you for the introduction. And I want to say thank you very much to Benny Alagem, because it was Benny Alagem that actually invited me to come here today. And I want to just say what a great friend Benny Alagem is to Israel , what a great friend he is to California and what a great friend he is to Maria and me. We really appreciate your friendship, your kindness and your generosity. A big hand to him.

And I just want to tell you a little story, just a tiny little story. When we had the inauguration this last time and I got re-elected to become governor, after I gave my inaugural speech we went back to my office. And my children played around in my office and they were running around, which I always tell them not to do. “This is the Capitol, it’s not at home. Don’t run around like crazy.” But they did and my daughter ran into one of the cabinets. And she really had a big injury on her forehead and so we had to fly her back to Los Angeles .

And Benny offered to fly her back with him on his private plane. And then on that plane she got a seizure because of that injury and she passed out. Bennie made phone calls from the plane to make sure there was an ambulance there when he arrived at Burbank Airport . And then when he arrived at Burbank Airport the ambulance was there; he did not go into his limo, but he went into the ambulance and drove with my daughter to the hospital, to the emergency room. And he sat there with her — because we were not with here, because we were still in Sacramento — he sat there with her until she was released and until she was fine.

That’s the kind of man Benny Alagem is. He wants to nurture. He nurtured my daughter, he nurtures Israel , he nurtures California , he nurtures his friends. He is a nurturing person, a selfless person and this is why he’s getting this great award here today.

Thank you very much, Benny. You’re a fabulous guy. Here is this award. Thank you very much for your great, great friendship and for everything that you’re doing for all of us. Thank you very much. A big hand for Benny Alagem.