[Kevin Sevcik]

Wow. So I have a couple of comments to make about all this stuff....

First, I can't help but think that a Israeli/Palestinian team would be really, really difficult to pull off even though it's a very inspirational thing to do. Plus, programs like that have been tried before and have only met with limited success. I know it's a horribly negative comment to make in these forums, but I think it would ultimately just be a publicity stunt. Real change in the region is going to have to be a much much broader effort.

But enough politics... my second comment is that US teams travelling to Israel are going to have a seriously uphill battle. Travel costs aside, there is the problems of getting permission from school districts and parents to allow their kids to travel to a region that is not the safest in the world where they will stick out rather seriously. Plus, there's the question of getting the robot into the country, which probably isn't as cheap or easy as shipping it around the US. And all of your tools will probably have to go with your robot, as I don't think you'll be taking them with you on the plane. So that's pretty tough.

Really, though, I'm bothered by this because it's a small regional in an area with no current teams. So FIRST is funding teams in Israel, plus an expensive regional for said teams plus a very small number of other teams. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, FIRST has raised the first regional entry fee by 20%, discouraging rookie and poorer teams here in the States. One can only wonder how FIRST can afford this if they've already had to raise prices to break even already.

Don't get me wrong, I realize FIRST is doing this to inspire people worldwide. I just question the logic of an organization that does something like this when it's already having funding woes and growing pains at home.