Grapevine July 3, 2024: Thais that bind

When she arrived in Israel in November 2019, Thai Ambassador Pannabha Chandraramya thought that she would remain for two to three years, which is the average length of stay for a Thai ambassador.

But she did not know then about the challenges that lay ahead or how October 7 would affect her life. Most of the Thai workers and students were in the south of the country. Thirty-nine were killed on October 7, 23 were wounded, and 31 were kidnapped.

Families of Thai citizens in Israel were worried about their safety and wanted them to come home. The Thai government hired planes, and Chandraramya and her staff processed all their fellow countrymen who wanted to leave. She also went to the airport to wave goodbye to passengers on 35 repatriation flights.

Throughout the whole period she has been involved in meetings with Israeli officials and with colleagues from other embassies in efforts to secure the release of the hostages – not just Thais but all hostages. Though most of the Thai hostages have been released, six are still in captivity.

This week Chandraramya was honored by the Ambassadors’ Club of Israel, which named her 2024 Diplomat of the Year at its annual ceremony, held at TEO Art and Culture Center in Herzliya Pituah.

Other recipients of awards were honorary consul of Georgia Meni Benish, who was named the Honorary Consul of the Year; and Yitzhak Bejerano, the chairman and CEO of Readymix Industries Israel, who was named Israel International Businessman of the Year.

The occasion also marked the 13th anniversary of the founding of ACI by Yitzhak Eldan, a retired ambassador, diplomat, and former chief of State Protocol.

Eldan was lauded by former colleagues Gil Haskel, who is the current chief of State Protocol, and Raphael Harpaz, who is the Foreign Ministry’s deputy director-general for Asia. Each noted the importance of what Eldan has done and is doing in building bridges between Israel and other nations.

Harpaz recalled the farewell party for Eldan when he retired from the ministry. “But he didn’t really retire,” said Harpaz. He continued with his work through the ACI.”

Each also had words of praise for the three honorees, but especially for Chandraramya, of whom Harpaz said: “She’s the best of the best.”

Haskel said that Thailand could not expect a better ambassador than Chandraramya in dealing with the challenges and problems. “Our hearts went out to you,” he said to her.

Chandraramya is delighted that all the Thais that she repatriated have returned, along with others who had not previously been in Israel. There are 30,000 Thai workers in Israel today, with 7,000 in the North. Chandraramya is hopeful that the northern experience will not emulate that of the South.

Coincidentally, the award was given to Chandraramya in the year that Thailand and Israel are marking the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations.

In March, she and her team took time out to invite a few guests to join them in planting 70 trees in the Ben-Shemen Forest in celebration of the friendship between the two countries.

She would like to do something more, and is hoping to arrange a Thai fashion show as part of her efforts to promote Thailand and to make Israelis aware of another of the facets of her country’s creativity.

In accepting the award, Chandraramya said that the achievements for which she had been recognized were not hers alone, but a team effort.

“There are many others without whom I would not be here,” she said, mentioning Israeli counterparts and colleagues from other embassies, as well as her staff.  “Diplomacy is not and cannot be a lone effort. It is a shared achievement,” she declared.

On hand to join in singing the praises of Georgian-born Benish was Georgian Ambassador Zaza Kandelaki, who spoke in glowing terms of what Benish has done as a business entrepreneur and a social philanthropist to bring Georgia and Israel closer together.

Also present to congratulate Benish was Yigal Amedi, who is Georgia’s honorary consul in Jerusalem.

Bejerano, who has received many prizes over the years, and is due for another next week, was lauded by the heads of the Latin America-Israel Chamber of Commerce, Yoram Naor and Roberto Spindel, who noted that Bejerano, who heads the largest concrete and building materials company in Israel, had brought in Mexico’s largest industrial company, which had not been an easy feat. They also made the point that Readymix has been a prime source of Israel’s development and infrastructure.

Almost every event in Israel in recent months has been under the cloud of October 7 and its aftermath. It was mentioned by speakers at the awards ceremony and by way of a poignant tribute by 20-year-old songwriter and composer Rotem Sharabi, who lost four members of her family during the murderous spree by Hamas. One of the four was Sharabi’s cousin Noya, who also happened to be her best friend, and in whose memory she wrote and performed “Noya Sunshine.”

“On October 7, we became the voices for those who can no longer be heard,” she said.

Criticism for Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu 

■ IN THE belief that discretion is the better part of valor, Edna Halbani, who spent 50 years working in the Prime Minister’s Office, serving 11 prime ministers from Golda Meir onward, has remained tight-lipped about alleged transgressions of Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu that took place behind closed doors. She has no intention of violating their privacy, though what she has seen and heard could fill a book.

But some of the things that the Netanyahus have said and done openly fill her with revulsion. She has been so disgusted that she felt no compunction about criticizing them on social media and stating that this government is the worst that she ever encountered.

Responses from Netanyahu loyalists were fast and furious, and included mafia-style threats. So much for freedom of expression in Israel.

Halbani, as the head of the guest relations department in the Prime Minister’s Office, met scores of visiting heads of state and government, and organized overseas tours for Israel’s prime ministers.

In both cases, this entailed numerous meetings with officials from the visitor’s country, or the country to which Israel’s prime minister would be traveling. All such meetings involved elaborate planning, including separate itineraries for spouses.

This meant a close, businesslike relationship with the prime minister and his wife, who likewise has not been spared Halbani’s criticism for saying things that should not be said in wartime.

Halbani, who now looks over her shoulder whenever she walks down the street to ascertain whether she is being followed, admits to being afraid. It’s a very scary feeling for someone who was used to giving instructions to prime ministers.

One would think, given the publicity that Halbani has received in relation to the threats, plus the fact that they have not been erased from her social media accounts, that police would step in without receiving an official complaint.

But no, what we are hearing about the police from the public and from journalists reporting on demonstrations is that the police are becoming increasingly violent.

KAN 11 reporter Hadas Grinberg, who throughout her career has been both a police reporter and a war correspondent, has seen a lot of violence in her time but seldom anything approaching what happened to Labor MK Naama Lazimi in Tel Aviv on Saturday night. Literally a gang of policemen, without a single policewoman among them, physically attacked Lazimi, whose screams of pain can be heard on the video posted by Grinberg.

Such an incident was totally inexcusable, even if, as the police claim, Lazimi was interfering in police business. It would have sufficed for only one policeman to lead her away.

It was no better in Jerusalem, where a demonstrator who had returned from serving more than six months in Gaza was harassed by police, foul language was used, and a threat was made to rape his mother.

As children we were all taught that the man in blue is our friend. Maybe that’s why the police at demonstrations wear black.Yet, as with anything else, it is dangerous to generalize and to blame all members of the police force for the actions of a few rotten apples in the barrel. There are many policemen who are kind, courteous, and considerate, but because of the few who are not, they are bearing the brunt of the negative reputation that the bad guys are giving to the police.

Not all haredim evade military

■ LIKEWISE, WITH the haredim. Not all haredim are evading army service. Not all haredim are ignorant of core subjects. Not all haredim are unequipped for good jobs. Not all haredim are living on government handouts, and the list goes on. Therefore it is illogical and unfair to lump all haredim together.Perhaps the methods used in trying to persuade haredi youth to do some form of national service – military or civilian – have failed because the people trying to impose on them don’t know enough about haredi attitudes and lifestyles.

Many haredim do perform civilian national service, but not necessarily within the framework of mainstream society. They do it among their own: visiting the sick; providing food for the needy; a wedding dress and a modest reception for a poverty-stricken young couple; mountains of clothes and diapers for newborn babies; household help for the elderly; and a whole lot more.

To exercise a law that would instantly put haredi young men in the battlefield, when they are not yet physically or mentally equipped to enter a combat zone, is foolhardy.But if their leaders can be persuaded to send the best and the brightest to the Intelligence Corps, where their Talmudic expertise would be of great value in analyzing or providing solutions to problems, other haredi youth could gradually move to other units until they are ready to join combat units.

The army is not only a great equalizer – it is also a great teacher. Here again, there is something that may appeal to the haredi leadership. A lot of secular youth know little or nothing about Jewish history or Jewish religious values. By serving in the army, haredi youth would initially arouse the curiosity of secular comrades, and then possibly influence them to learn more about Judaism.

Unfortunately there are people such as Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, the head of the Eda Haredit Rabbinical Court. Sternbuch, who is also head of the Gra Synagogue in the capital’s Har Nof neighborhood, was among the speakers at the mass anti-draft demonstration in Jerusalem on Sunday. He declared: “We want the authorities to leave us alone. Let us live according to the Torah, which is more precious to us than anything else. If taxes and imprisonment are imposed on us, it will not force a single [haredi] youth to enlist.”

Something else might. Those haredim who are dual nationals and refuse to obey a call-up notice can be deported to another country. They seem to forget that the State of Israel, in which they enjoy many freedoms, came about as a result of the Zionist enterprise. Israel is a Zionist country, and anti-Zionists should perhaps be living somewhere else.

Mass deportations may succeed where everything else has failed. British-born Sternbuch could be deported for incitement against the government. That would be a valid reason in any other country.

US ambassador to visit Knesset

■ US AMBASSADOR Jack Lew will be at the Knesset on Wednesday for the signing of the first-ever parliamentary friendship agreement between the United States and Israel – this despite the fact that diplomatic relations between the two countries have been in force for more than 76 years.

Netanyahu says he won't attend July 4 event

■ IN A break with tradition, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that he would not be attending the American Independence Day reception that will be hosted by Lew at his residence in Jerusalem this coming Thursday, July 4.

The reason released by Netanyahu’s office is that he thought it inappropriate for him to attend during wartime, and just as he had not participated in Israel Independence Day and Jerusalem Day ceremonies, he would continue in this vein and not participate in the American Independence Day ceremony.

Some pundits believe that this is a convenient excuse to save him from the embarrassment of yet another anti-Bibi demonstration, which this time would take place in the narrow confines of the capital’s German Colony. Another possible reason is that after insulting US President Joe Biden and the US administration in general, it would be difficult for him to come out in full praise of Biden, even though Netanyahu has in the past acknowledged the inestimable aid that Israel has received from America.

In previous years, the Fourth of July bash was attended by the president, the prime minister, the foreign minister, and other Israeli VIPs, plus hundreds of other guests. The program always included speeches by the president, the prime minister, and the US ambassador, and ended with a magnificent fireworks display.

This time the reception will be a very scaled-down affair, with, in many cases, spouses omitted from the invitations. President Isaac Herzog and Foreign Minister Israel Katz will be in attendance. Herzog will deliver a speech, though it’s not certain whether Katz will also do so.

Now that Biden has decided to remain in the presidential race, it will be easier for Herzog, who has a genuine fondness for him, to come up with the usual superlatives that he has about America and about what Biden has done for Israel.

Herzog, who has met Biden on several occasions, in July 2022, during Biden’s visit to Israel, conferred on him Israel’s highest civilian honor – the Presidential Medal of Honor.

Biden said to Herzog at the time: “You know my inclination to enthusiasm, you should. With a grandfather who thought Sinn Fein was the future of Ireland, you should understand that.”

The remark drew laughter, but the US president of Irish background commented: “You all think I’m kidding. I’m not.”

The message in his reference to Herzog’s grandfather related to the need to compromise in order to avoid further bloodshed, and is particularly valid today, coming from the man who says that you don’t have to be Jewish to be a Zionist.

On the other hand, haredi anti-draft demonstrators this week proved that you don’t have to be non-Jewish to be an anti-Zionist.In the days when the US residence was in Herzliya Pituah, there were parking facilities at both ends of the street, and golf carts used to take guests from the car park to the house.

There are even fewer parking facilities in Emek Refaim Street, where the current American residence is located, but there are parking facilities some 10 minutes’ walk away.

Chabad's involvement during war

■ AMONG THE Orthodox movements that are extremely active in honoring the memories of fallen soldiers, helping displaced residents of the North and the South and organizing activities for them is Chabad. Nearly all the Chabad Houses and directors across Israel are involved in such activities.

On July 4, one of the Chabad houses in Jerusalem is organizing what it calls a mission to the Gaza Strip, where it will treat soldiers to a barbecue. While in Gaza, the group from Jerusalem will also tour the area to see the devastation caused by Hamas.

Chabad Centers around the world will hold commemorative ceremonies to mark the 30th anniversary of the death of the last rebbe in the Chabad dynasty – Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who died on the third day of the Hebrew calendar month of Tamuz, which this year coincides with Tuesday, July 9.

The power of the Rebbe’s influence can be seen in the fact that Chabad has not disintegrated but has grown in strength, with more centers in countries where it was already well established and new centers in countries in which it had not previously operated.

The Rebbe firmly believed that where there are Jews, whether observant or not, Chabad should be there to provide services for them, particularly life-cycle services which would otherwise not be available to them.

In addition, Chabad is a great source of comfort and assistance to Jewish communities in wartime, as was evidenced in Ukraine, where Chabad rabbis maintain close relations with President Volodymyr Zelensky.

On a visit to Ukraine last year, French-Jewish philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy toured Chabad institutions in Odessa prior to making a film about the impact of the war on the country in general, including the Jewish community.

Among the institutions he visited was the Mishpacha Children’s Home directed by Rabbi Avraham and Chaya Wolff. Levy was already aware of the grueling journey made by 120 children of the Odessa orphanage, who passed through seven countries on their way to Berlin. They were escorted by Wolff’s son, Rabbi Mendi Wolff.

Charles Dickens quoted at UK ambassador's event

■ BRITISH AMBASSADOR Simon Walters last week hosted the Friends of the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation at his residence in Ramat Gan.

He may have been somewhat surprised to hear Peres Center chairman Chemi Peres recite the famous quote from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

Given what Israel has experienced over the past nine months – and even before that – few quotes could have been more apt.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

All the above apply to Israel and the region. What was interesting is that this was exactly the kind of quote that Peres’s father, Shimon Peres, would have chosen in similar circumstances. Shimon Peres loved to quote literary figures.

Chemi Peres reviewed the situation throughout the region, and was optimistic that positive change would come.

Walters praised the Peres Center for continuing to encourage future generations of young innovators and entrepreneurs.

Yona Bartal, the founder and CEO of the Friends of the Peres Center, who worked closely with Shimon Peres when he was prime minister and president, and later continued to work with him at the Peres Center, shared anecdotes about his special connection to the UK, where he was conferred with an honorary knighthood by the late Queen Elizabeth.

She also mentioned his meeting with King Charles when he was still Prince Charles. She noted the visit by Prince William in June, 2018, when he played soccer with a group of Jewish and Arab youngsters who come together for various sporting activities sponsored by the Peres Center. The prince played with them on the beach in Tel Aviv and easily scored goals. But then he’s a bit bigger and more experienced than they are.

It would be nice if he returned with his sons for another game.

Drawing attention to the hostages

■ WAYS IN which to keep drawing attention to the plight of the hostages, to the hundreds of people murdered or wounded on October 7, and to the soldiers who have fallen in battle since then, have sorely taxed the creativity of Israelis, Diaspora Jews, and supporters of Israel around the world.

Focusing on the hostages, the Jack Kuba chain of lingeries and beachwear boutiques has put out a swimwear line solely in yellow, and has commissioned Olympic swimmer Ariel Nassee to model it against the backdrop of the national flag.

Although she will be wearing a swimsuit in the national colors in Paris, it would not surprise if she packs a yellow one into her luggage to wear if she scores a medal.

Better still if there will be no need for her to wear yellow, because an agreement will have been reached for the return of the hostages.

More people living to a triple-digit age

■ AS MENTIONED in a recent Grapevine column, demographic statistics indicate that more and more people are living to a triple-digit age.

Among them is Amos Horev, a former commander of the Palmah in the pre-state era. Horev celebrated his 100th birthday last Sunday, on June 30 – where else but in Palmah House in Tel Aviv, in the company of family and friends.

He was also a member of the elite force of the Hagana and later served in senior roles in the IDF, including that of chief scientist.

In a radio interview last week, Horev was asked whether today’s Israel is the Israel that he dreamed of as a young man. The response was a definite “No.” He had never imagined that the animosity that festers among different sectors of the population would reach the levels that it has.

Horev’s was one of the voices that were raised against judicial reform.

A mechanical engineer and nuclear scientist by training, Horev was the first native-born president of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. He later served for six years as director of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and was awarded the prestigious Defense Prize.

He recently published his autobiography, The Way it Was.

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