Status: 08/22/2022 07:49 a.m
The new Israeli ambassador officially takes up his post in Berlin. Prosor emphasized that he would continue to raise his voice against anti-Semitism in the future. The former UN ambassador has family ties to Germany.
The new Israeli ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, takes up his post in Berlin today. The former UN ambassador hands over his credentials to Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the morning. Prosor replaces Jeremy Issacharoff, who has been the Ambassador of the State of Israel to Germany since August 2017.
Father comes from Berlin
The 63-year-old has family ties to Germany: his father Uri was born in Berlin in 1927. After the Nazis seized power, his family fled to Palestine in 1933. His father was a real Prussian, Prosor said in a recent interview. His mother is from Odessa. He himself was born in Tel Aviv in 1958.
Prosor is considered one of the most distinguished Israeli diplomats. Between 2011 and 2015 he was Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations. Before that, the trained artillery officer with the rank of major represented his country in Great Britain for four years. From 1988 to 1992, Prosor was at the embassy in Bonn and maintained connections in the GDR. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, he established contacts in the new federal states.
Statement by Abbas condemned
The accreditation of prosors in Germany takes place in Bellevue Palace, the official residence of the Federal President. After a small military ceremony, the ambassador-designate signs the guest book. According to the Office of the President, an initial conversation not only offers an opportunity to get to know each other, but also to transmit political news.
Even before he officially took office, Prosor made it clear that he would continue to raise his voice against anti-Semitism in the future. Prosor commented on Twitter on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ comparison with the Holocaust with “Shame!” and called for zero tolerance for Holocaust denial. On Tuesday, Abbas accused Israel of multiple “Holocausts” against the Palestinians, triggering outrage.
“I’ve come full circle”
Prosor said on his appointment that he was moved from the bottom of his heart to return to Germany as Israel’s ambassador. When he arrived in Berlin in early August, he emphasized in fluent German that German-Israeli relations had long been very important to him. Because of his family history, the post of ambassador comes full circle for him: “For me, it’s not just a professional task, but also a personal one.”
There should also be close contact between Berlin and Jerusalem on a personal level in the future: in a tweet about the inauguration of the former German government spokesman Steffen Seibert as the new ambassador to Israel, Prosor used the familiar form of his counterpart. He called Seibert a dear friend.