The high drama of Tuesday’s stormy cabinet meeting in Jerusalem had certain fallout in Herzliya Pituah where the Ambassadors’ Club of Israel was honoring one of its vice presidents, David Ben Basat, with the Excellence in Diplomacy Award for 2020. The event was originally scheduled to be held last year, but was twice postponed due to coronavirus restrictions. It was almost postponed again because Ben Basat recently underwent surgery of the larynx and is temporarily unable to speak above a tiny whisper. In the final analysis, it was decided to go ahead as planned and have the honoree’s acceptance speech read out by ACI CEO Itsik Kamilian.
To ensure that despite his inability to speak, Ben Basat’s voice would be heard, recordings of him singing were played at the reception preceding the formalities. In his multifaceted career, Ben Basat has been, and largely still is an electronics engineer, teacher, communications expert, radio monitor, owner of three regional radio stations, radio and television program host, singer, member of the Likud Central Committee, newspaper columnist, diplomat, City Council member, community activist, philanthropist and more. His award was in connection with his position as honorary consul of Nauru. He is also honorary consul of Sierra Leone, and has acted on behalf of Angola.
At the event held at the elegantly luxurious home of Honorary Consul for Georgia Meni Benish and his wife, Natalia, Ben Basat’s popularity was evident not only in the accolades that flowed from the lips of speaker after speaker, but also in the fact that two of three dignitaries who hold Ben Basat in such high esteem, they insisted on being present, apologized at the last minute that they couldn’t attend, and then, despite all the odds, including traffic congestion, made the trip from Jerusalem.
In general, ACI events are conducted in English, which is the most common language among diplomats and international business people, but on this occasion, almost everyone was Israeli, with the notable exception of Beka Chkheidze who is the deputy head of mission at the Georgian Embassy, and so proceedings were conducted in Hebrew. It was the first time that Eldan could remember doing so.
While politicians in Jerusalem were hurling insults at each other, in Herzliya all the comments, whether directed at Ben Basat or others present, were complimentary. There was absolutely nothing negative in the atmosphere. Both Haskel and Katz, as well as Dr. Tibor Shalev Schlosser, the ambassador to the Pacific Island States and head of the Operations Division at the Political Research Center of the Foreign Ministry, used all the superlatives at their disposal when speaking of Ben Basat, as did Gad Propper, the dean of the Honorary Consuls Corps, and Danny Yatom, the former head of Mossad.
Aside from any personal friendship they enjoy with Ben Basat, Katz and Haskel thought it important to emphasize the role played by Ben Basat in securing Nauru’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Katz had been foreign minister at the time, and Ben Basat’s diplomatic triumph was indirectly a feather in Katz’s cap. In June 2019, Katz had attended a dinner hosted by Ben Basat and his wife for Marlene Moses, Nauru’s ambassador to the UN, whom Ben Basat brought to Israel. Several diplomats and MKs had also been among the dinner guests.
Both Haskel and Propper explained that honorary consul is a voluntary position. Individuals approved by Israel’s Foreign Ministry are active in building bridges between nations and people, and help to promote the mutual interests of their home countries and those they represent as honorary consuls. There are 170 honorary consuls in Israel, according to Propper, who said, “All of them are excellent, dedicated people, but Ben Basat is the best.” In addition to being a superb diplomat, said Propper, Ben Basat is also a mensch. Although the Yiddish-cum-German word is translatable, said Propper, no translation really does it justice. (Possibly the closest English translation is “a really great guy”).
“Ben Basat is always there when you need him. He loves to help.” What Propper did not explain was that some honorary consuls actually take on the unpaid role of consul general, issuing visas and being responsible for other consular matters because the country they represent, while having full diplomatic relations with Israel, does not have a diplomatic mission in Israel. Both Propper and Ben Basat are in this position. Propper is the honorary consul for New Zealand, and for more than quarter of a century has acted as a professional diplomat, because New Zealand’s ambassador to Israel resides in Turkey. Some honorary consuls represent countries that have only trade relations with Israel, but not diplomatic relations.
Schlosser, who referred to Ben Basat as “a true patriot” who has the interests of both countries at heart, noted in the same breath that Ben Basat, at his own cost, had provided Nauru with medical and technological assistance. Schlosser also spoke of the eerie feeling he had when he was in Nauru and asked Baron Waqa, who was president at the time, to explain the significance of the 12-pointed star on Nauru’s flag. Waqa told him that it stood for the 12 tribes that once made up the island’s population. “Unfortunately, we lost two tribes,” Waqa had said.
The similarity to ancient Jewish history was mind-boggling. Nauru is the smallest island republic in the world, and the third smallest country after the Vatican and Monaco. Small though it may be, said Schlosser, who had gone for a coast-to-coast run, “it’s one of the best friends that Israel has in the world, and a vote by Nauru at the United Nations is no less important than that of a major power.”
When Eldan called on Yatom to say a few words about Ben Basat, he jokingly asked him to talk about the Mossad. In Hebrew, Mossad simply means institution. Returning the quip Yatom said, “There are many institutions. Which one would you like me to talk about? In the years that he’s known Ben Basat, said Yatom, he has learned that Ben Basat is a man of his word, and someone who can be relied on.
Katz not only added to all the plaudits of previous speakers, but looking back at his previous position as foreign minister, said the people who work in the Foreign Ministry are all people of quality.
■ ALMOST 40 years ago, Yitzhak Rabin famously dubbed Yossi Beilin, then chief adviser to Shimon Peres, as Peres’s poodle. But there’s also a poodle on the Right and his name is Ofir Akunis. Arguably the most loyal and long-suffering of the lackeys of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Akunis is ever ready to come to Netanyahu’s defense on any issue, and will put up with the most painful and embarrassing indignities from and because of Bibi, as was evidenced this week during his record-breaking short term as justice minister.
■ UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Ambassador Mohamed Al Khaja is certainly not cooling his heels in getting to know people in Israel and expressing his pleasure at such on his Twitter account. Among many of those whom he has met recently are former US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, American Jewish Committee Director General Avital Leibovich, Expo Commissioner Elazar Cohen, and UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland. Al Khaja was also hosted at iftar dinners by German Ambassador Dr. Susanne Wasum-Rainer, Abu Ghosh Mayor Salim Jaber and Indian restaurateur Reena Pushkarna, whose cuisine at her Tandoori restaurant, he pronounced to be “delicious”.
■ IT’S HARD to believe that world famous sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer, who has been to Israel countless times and was a sniper in the Hagana, had never until this month received an honorary doctorate from any Israeli university. That oversight has been amended by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, which in its first-ever virtual doctorate event conferred the honorary doctorate in Beersheba on Westheimer, who received it in New York.
Another recipient of an honorary doctorate was Prof. Alice Shalvi, who received hers last week from the University of Haifa. If Wikipedia is up to date, this was also Shalvi’s first honorary doctorate from an Israeli university, although she has been the recipient of many other awards including the Israel Prize. Both Westheimer, 92, and Shalvi, 94, are trailblazers who were born in Germany. Shalvi’s family moved to England, and she later came to live in Israel.
Westheimer’s family, who were murdered in the Holocaust, had sent her to a Jewish orphanage in Switzerland. From there she came to Israel as a teenage war orphan, and later moved on to New York. Shalvi is a respected educator and an ardent feminist. She was the founder of the Israel Women’s Network, which fought and continues to fight for equal rights for women in academia, the workplace and society in general. Many years ago, Shalvi lost out on an academic promotion even though her qualifications were above those of other candidates. The reason that she was given a miss was because of her gender.