Push for closer diplomatic ties
RONEN Plot, director-general of Israel's Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs, was in Australia this week in what is seen as part of a larger effort to cultivate a better relationship between the local community and the Jewish State.
AHRON SHAPIRO
RONEN Plot, director-general of Israel’s Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs, was in Australia this week in what is seen as part of a larger effort to cultivate a better relationship between the local community and the Jewish State.
The director-general, who also spent time liaising with Jewish community leaders in Hong Kong and New Zealand as part of his regional sweep, said that his trip had a dual purpose: as a fact-finding mission to learn more about Diaspora communities and develop a working relationship with their leadership, while also looking for opportunities for new collaborative projects in education and other spheres.
Speaking in Hebrew, Plot told The AJN that his visit was considered essential in order to carry out the mission of his department.
“You can’t have a situation where you have an office of Diaspora affairs and run it exclusively from Israel,” Plot said. “It’s extremely important to meet and get to know people in the Diaspora communities themselves.”
Dr Ron Weiser, past president of the Zionist Federation of Australia and current committee member of the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency, was one of the many communal officials who met with Plot during his Pesach visit.
Dr Weiser said that Plot’s visit represents the beginning of a long-term process to change the relationship between Jerusalem and the Diaspora.
He recalled the words of former prime minister Ehud Olmert in a speech to the Jewish Agency Board of Governors. “[Olmert] said, for the past 60 years, Israel has been the project of the Jewish people. For the next 60 years, the Jewish people will need to be the joint project of Israel and Jewish communities around the world.”
The current visit is the latest step in that process, Dr Weiser said.
Plot dismissed speculation that his trip had any connection to recent allegations that Israel had forged Australian passports.
His visit, he said, was planned well in advance of the scandal and had very clear objectives far removed from such controversies.
Plot added that, at any rate, there has been no proven link between Israel and the forgeries.
In related news, Plot could not confirm the accuracy of a report in The Jerusalem Post last Thursday that PM Binyamin Netanyahu’s former bureau chief Ari Harow may accept the position of deputy director-general of the Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Ministry.
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