diplomacy
Israel’s new ambassador has taken office
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier receives the new Israeli ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor (l), at Bellevue Palace to receive the letter of accreditation. photo
© Wolfgang Kumm/dpa
He has come full circle, says Israel’s new top diplomat in Germany. 63-year-old Ron Prosor has family roots in Berlin. He wants to deepen relations between the two peoples.
The new Israeli ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, has officially taken office in Berlin. The former UN ambassador presented his credentials to Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
The 63-year-old Prosor has German roots: his father Uri was born in Berlin in 1927. At the age of six he fled to Palestine with his parents to escape the Holocaust. In Berlin, Prosor will replace Jeremy Issacharoff, who has been Israel’s ambassador to Germany since August 2017.
The accreditation of Prosors in Germany took place in Bellevue Castle, the official residence of the Federal President. The diplomat handed his credentials to Steinmeier. According to the Office of the Federal President, Steinmeier and Prosor used the ceremony to exchange ideas. “Today is a special day for me. I am presenting my credentials to Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier,” Prosor had previously written on Twitter. “I’m happy that my mother, my son and my sister, who came specially, are by my side on this day alongside my wife Hadas.”
Prosor is considered a distinguished diplomat
When Prosor was appointed ambassador to Germany at the end of last year, then-Israeli Foreign Minister and current Prime Minister Jair Lapid wrote that this “symbolizes the importance of Israeli-German relations and the further strengthening of cooperation with the new government in Berlin.” Prosor said on his appointment that he was moved from the bottom of his heart to return to Germany as Israel’s ambassador.
Prosor has held several important diplomatic posts and is considered one of the most distinguished Israeli diplomats. Between 2011 and 2015 he was Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations. During his tenure, he accused the UN of having prejudice against Israel. Between 2007 and 2011, the trained artillery officer with the rank of major represented his country in Great Britain. 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.
When he arrived in Berlin in early August, Prosor emphasized in fluent German that German-Israeli relations had long been close to his heart. Because of his family roots in Berlin, the ambassador’s position closes the circle for him: “It’s not just a professional task for me, it’s also a personal one.” He not only wants to deepen relations between governments, but also between peoples.
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.
Clear words about the Abbas scandal
Even before he officially took office, Prosor made it clear that he would continue to raise his voice against anti-Semitism in the future. After the Holocaust comparison made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during his visit to Berlin last week, he called on Twitter not to accept such statements in Germany. “Shame!” Prosor wrote and spoke of “Holocaust denial by Mahmoud Abbas on German soil”. In another Twitter message, he later added: “Holocaust denial must be met with zero tolerance – anywhere, anytime.”
On Tuesday, Abbas accused Israel of multiple “Holocausts” against the Palestinians, triggering outrage.