Herzog welcomes new ambassadors at ceremony
The traditional ceremony of the presentation of credentials by new ambassadors was abruptly cut short on Tuesday as President Isaac Herzog held one of the shortest meetings on record with Ambassador of Nepal Kanta Rizel, although he would have liked to speak to her longer.
The presentation of diplomatic credentials was almost national pride day, as Vietnamese ambassador Ly Duc Trung and his entourage, and Nepalese ambassador Kanta Rizel and her entourage came in national dress, and both ambassadors chose the color Royal blue. German ambassador Steffen Seibert chose not to wear lederhosen, and came wearing a business suit instead.
Of the three, the Vietnamese ambassador has been in Israel for the longest period. “I’m very excited,” he told the president. “I’ve been waiting for this day for three months.”
The previous presentation of credentials ceremony was on April 7, when he was not yet in the country.
The two talked about Vietnamese culture, including religion. The ambassador said that he was not religious but that Vietnam has a lunar calendar and this is the month to worship parents. Even though he is not religious, he thinks about his mother every day, he said. Herzog, whose mother Aura died in January, responded that he also thinks about his mother.
It is almost impossible to talk to an ambassador of Vietnam without mentioning the Vietnam
War and Ho Chi Minh. Herzog told the ambassador that in 1946, then-prime minister David Ben-Gurion and the then-president of Vietnam had stayed in the same hotel in Paris and had very friendly relations. In fact, Ho had suggested to Ben-Gurion that he declare a Jewish government in exile, and set up its headquarters in North Vietnam. Ben-Gurion declined the offer.
Next year, Israel and Vietnam will celebrate 30 years of diplomatic relations and the ambassador is already planning several events around this anniversary.
HERZOG TOLD Seibert, who is the previous spokesman for the German government, that there is broad understanding in Israel for the importance of Israel’s relations with Germany, and thanked Germany for its solid commitment to Israel’s security. “While never forgetting the past,” he said, “we look
forward to the future together.”
Seibert replied that one of the most important of Germany’s relationships is the one that it has with Israel.
Herzog is planning several state visits in months to come, and Germany is one of the countries on his agenda. “It may be your first trip back to Germany” he teased the German ambassador, who said “It will be of great symbolic importance.”
Herzog concurred, adding that “We have so much to do together in so many fields.”
Commenting on the long history of Jews in Germany, Herzog recalled that when his father, as Israel’s sixth president, was the first Israeli head of state to visit the federal republic, he took with him German-born Holocaust survivors. Chaim Herzog had previously been in Germany during the Second World War as an officer in the British Army and had helped to liberate the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. He returned there in April 1987 to lay a wreath and to say kaddish. He also traveled all over the country with the Holocaust survivors.
The information was not news to Seibert who said, “We last year celebrated 1,700 years of the history of Jews in Germany.”
Rizal, in thanking Herzog for receiving her, spoke in halting but correct Hebrew. “Now say it in Nepalese,” he urged her. Herzog said that he was a huge fan of Nepal, and that he had always been intrigued by the way that the landlocked country has been able to maintain itself and develop while surrounded by great nations. In the brief time that he spent with her, they were able to talk about potential collaboration in agriculture, tourism innovation and more.
The new Nepalese ambassador has been in the country for just over three weeks. Among those who welcomed her at the airport when she arrived was Nadav Ben Yehuda, the first Israeli to climb Mount Annapurna, and the Israeli who holds the record for climbing the largest number of mountains that are more than 8,000 meters high. Ben Yehuda, who is one of the most enthusiastic advocates for and promoters of Nepal, also accompanied Rizal to her meeting with the president.
Two other ambassadors, from Denmark and Moldova, had been scheduled to present credentials, but since the relevant paperwork in their respective countries had not been completed, they are not yet in Israel.