HOST: JENNIFER (00:00):
Welcome to episode number 39 of the Going for Greatness Show. I am your host, Jennifer Weissman. We can all agree that Elon Musk is a brilliant man. In November 2023, he visited Israel to see for himself what the Hamas terrorists did to innocent civilians on October 7th. And he came away thinking that the path to prosperity for the Palestinians is one of the most important ways forward. Israel is at a tipping point. Remember that Israel stands alone in a sea of dictators in the Middle East, and it is the lone democracy in that region. So, in making the case for what Israel can contribute and has contributed to the world, I started to think, who could I speak to? And this led me to my conversation today with former Israeli Ambassador Shemi Sur. Shemi had been an ambassador for Israel in so many countries. I can't even name them all, but they include New Zealand, Cyprus, Finland, Estonia, Turkmenistan, and many other places. So Shemi and I had a very candid conversation about Israel's contributions to the world and how it hopes to make the world a little bit better and maybe understand why Israel is so misunderstood. Without further ado, here are some highlights of my conversation with the former Israeli ambassador.
GUEST: SHEMI (01:52):
We Israelis came, and we contributed the insulin injections that they needed. We brought from Israel, this small country in the Middle East that it's not a troublemaker. On the contrary, it's a country that contributes and tries to make the world a little bit better. Whatever we can, we share with others in communication. Any communication system you hold, even that tiny mobile, has an Israeli compound that takes issues like tree irrigation. So we came up with this solution of tree irrigation that you use the minimum of the minimum of water to reach peace with our neighbors. We hope so. That's the dream, just like a dream come true. Suddenly, we are talking about peace with our neighbors, calling for peace. This is the dream; this is the faith. This is what we believe. We are, uh, faithful people. Book of the books we teach us. Always that quest for peace and friendship with others.
HOST: JENNIFER (02:50):
How did you find common ground when you faced perhaps dislike, perhaps pushback? You tell me, what did you face as an Israeli ambassador?
GUEST: SHEMI (02:59):
Every country, of course, is different. If we take Cyprus, my first ambassadorship in 94, we had diplomatic relations with Cyprus from the fifties. Cyprus was a small country near Israel, but at the same time, very near to many Arab countries. They hardly had any business with Israel. They were threatened, like if there will be business with Israel, then uh, won't be any business with the Arab countries. So, one of the main things was to explain and to build this trust that it's not a zero-sum game. You can be very friendly with Arab countries. We never say anything about it. But at the same time, yes, we can do business with Israel. And we started slowly, slowly building up to find out what areas they can take from Israel and them because it's always both sides to participate and things that we can contribute. Like, you know, Cyprus is an arid country. While I was there, there were about four years of drought. The country had no water close to all the gardens and pools, and we devised that idea. So, we know the desalination expertise and plan we built there. We helped save Cyprus.
HOST: JENNIFER (04:21):
You exported the desalinization technology to Cyprus and helped it become a lush country.
GUEST: SHEMI (04:29):
Absolutely. It's a different approach. Like with Finland, we wanted very much with this area of, uh, high tech. It's high-tech; this is the best place for a mobile phone. It started with Nokia. We built some contacts together so Israeli and Finnish engineers could begin sharing knowledge and expertise. We open centers for Nokia in Tel Aviv and many startups together. We built up a fun network of business people and Israeli people that they can share, and they get some money to start a business together. I'm taking, uh, Finland as a country which was, uh, criticizing Israel very much on the issue of Israeli Palestinians. We explained that we are a democracy; we are a democratic country with all the values of democracy and taking care of human rights. Unfortunately, we are in a daily situation suffering from attacks. We had, since our independence, five big wars and endless terrorist attacks.
GUEST: SHEMI (05:35):
So, we have to protect our citizens, which is the obligation any government will do. I was there during the second Lebanon war, and they said, oh, you using massive tax against Lebanon? I said, well, take it, for example, that you also have part of your country under the occupation of the Russians. One of your cities in the north would be bombarded. The rocket was launched into civilian areas by the government. Except we didn't stop it. Try to explain that. We had diplomatic ways, and we were trying very hard. But when it continues, and it's harmed people and people died, houses destroyed and people start giving their areas, farmers couldn't, uh, work at their land because of this, uh, attack. We had to retaliate at the same time. Always, always, always the issue of trying to make all the maneuvers in wan harm civilians or those not involved. I hope those countries will understand the situation. We are in Australia; it's almost 600 times larger than Israel. They don't know where the border is. I live in Jerusalem. The border is three kilometers. They don't have to launch a rocket when they launch a missile. They control stones on some houses.
HOST: JENNIFER (06:54):
So, the Abraham Accord opened this pathway to normalization and relations with Israel and these Arab countries. You would never imagine you could have this kind of dialogue. I want to back up for a second. You see, there's this tsunami of antisemitism building around the world. Most cities in the US and many cities in Europe all over. If you were an ambassador now after the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7th, how would you handle defending Israel? First
GUEST: SHEMI (07:25):
With the issue of antisemitism? Very upsetting. It's just unbelievable that we see it rising. Again, this is not only an Israeli problem. Why we studied what happened in the Holocaust, that 6 million people, because of believing in something they were marked, this was to abolish them from the earth. How can one accept that fighting antisemitism is a danger to the whole world? This is something new. They use this criticism against Israel, criticizing their act with the Palestinians, and they use antisemitic motives in that criticism. You can criticize Israel; we are; everything is a hundred percent now, and we make mistakes. Why do we have this issue with Iran? And they say publicly to destroy Israel and to put an end to that entity. The most important thing is that highly educated people do not pay attention. Like, uh, do you agree with that? We were shocked in Israel to see these messages from top universities worldwide.
HOST: JENNIFER (08:29):
You're talking specifically about the latest Ivy League schools saying that calling for the genocide of Jews is acceptable. That's what you're talking about. It's,
GUEST: SHEMI (08:39):
It's shocking to hear it at the most advanced universities in the world, like the leadership for the whole world. It's unacceptable.
HOST: JENNIFER (08:47):
It's dangerous not even to have the basic facts. Something like 20% of Israeli citizens are Arabs, and they have equal rights to all their citizens in Israel. You
GUEST: SHEMI (08:57):
You are right. And they enjoy all the rights of citizenship in Israel.
HOST: JENNIFER (09:03):
The antisemitism appears to be chic again and building in so many, not just college campuses, but New York City, where it's the most significant number of Jews in America. They have shut down Grand Central Station and the Brooklyn Bridge. And it feels as though my original question about why Israel is so misunderstood as a country. And you started talking about all the contributions that Israel has made to the world, which I think is super valuable, but to me, it's starting to feel like just basic Jew-hatred. And that's what's driving it.
GUEST: SHEMI (09:38):
It could be the historic reasons. Other nations conquered Israel, and they always try to make Israelis accept it, like Heleni and Romans and Perian and all that. They destroyed half of the world, and whoever they conquered immediately became part of them. And Jews and Israelis never accepted it. They fought against it. They took part in it. Maybe the culture and the studies, but they never give up. Keeping their unity of being Jews believing in something
HOST: JENNIFER (10:10):
Do you think envy is driving it
GUEST: SHEMI (10:12):
Envy us for what? Because whatever we can, we share with others. Technology evolution in communication, any communication system you hold, even that small mobile, has an Israeli compound that takes issues like drip irrigation. So, we came up with this drip irrigation solution that requires you to use the minimum amount of water. Enjoy crops. I was in Africa; they had hardly one crop of vegetables or something metal. We come with our technologies that they get it six times a year and so on in many fields. Medication, Africa, we did another thing. You know, some rivers have been polluted. How do you purify that water in, uh, medication? How many courses and students come from undeveloped countries to study in Israel, South Africa, Botswana, and other countries? Doctors were coming from Israel to give classes for nurses at the place.
HOST: JENNIFER (11:15):
With all these contributions that Israel makes to the world. You go as the ambassador, and you represent Israel. Do the countries you worked in, Finland and New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Tonga, and Samoa, and many countries where you were either ambassador or acting ambassador, feel appreciative?
GUEST: SHEMI (11:35):
Very much. They appreciate what we did. They saw it in Uzbekistan, which had just gained its independence. We came and helped them. They have the most beautiful fruit. This fruit was just apples and grapes, but it's almost rotted. We came, and they gave courses on how to keep it, to keep it in. Storages with a little bit of fertilizer that you provide, you can bring the most beautiful apple you can export and get money from. You know, they were so appreciated.
HOST: JENNIFER (12:10):
I want to return to the question of this tiny country using its resources and brains to develop itself into an outsized, incredibly huge relevance and contributor to the world. Yet it feels like Israel is and continues to be misunderstood. Shemi, my question to you is, will there be a time when people understand Israel?
GUEST: SHEMI (12:38):
That time will come when our region will be more for more countries to sign peace treaties with Israel, the Arab countries of Egypt, Jordan, and Emirates, and countries that later on joined because of the Abram Corps. Things have changed. They talk differently about Israel. We hope that one day it'll also be with the Palestinians, uh, that they will come forward to live this war and like recognize that Israel is there and going to stay there. They do not recognize even Israel like I have to go every morning, look at the mirror that I'm existing <laugh>. Yeah. When, uh, then I think it'll come, and I hope it'll come as soon as possible to give a different future for our children. You can't change anything from the past. But definitely, we can shape a future together. All of us will enjoy it when they will enjoy it, and we will enjoy that peace with them. Then I think there'll be a better understanding of this small country in the Middle East that it's not a troublemaker; on the contrary, it's a country that contributes and tries to make the world a little bit better. It's not in our hands always. And this is the problem.
HOST: JENNIFER (13:54):
Shemi, you are writing a book about your experience as an ambassador, weaving in some personal stories. What's the name of your book?
Speaker 2 (14:03):
It means from place to place. You move from place to place. I was born in a small village boarding between Iran and Turkey to a family that goes back to the time the Babylonians conquered Israel and displayed the people in Mesopotamia of that time. These people for generation thousand of the Babylonian A XI were 586 BC all that time. These people kept their Judaism, it means something, unite them together. And it had been kept living nicely with their neighbors. But the call was always one day to come back to our country. Like every Friday we have in our prayers next year in Jerusalem, there is a symbol of coming back and to live in your country and to live in peace your country all the time, the peace is is there. So, uh, it's called <inaudible> from place to place. So I came from living in an area because the country was small when they returned to Israel in the fifties. They couldn't adopt all these newcomers. So we were in neighborhoods with tents that they built just temporarily. I have been living in that temporary place for almost five years. And from there, we move to Jerusalem to do something for the country. You can't just take and take and take. You have to contribute. I found that niche of diplomacy, and yes, I can contribute to this loving country.
HOST: JENNIFER (15:34):
You've retired; you're now teaching. What are you teaching?
GUEST: SHEMI (15:36):
How a small country with determination and looking for those niches that we can contribute. It's a lost cause. No way. No way. Never give up like that. Try to explain. Maybe I sometimes succeeded. But I never give up.
HOST: JENNIFER (15:49):
Shemi, you have a fantastic story. You have a unique life history. I appreciate you spending time with me today and sharing what it was like to be an Israeli ambassador and how you can share Israel's relevance to and contribute to the world. Are there any other quick stories that you have as an ambassador?
GUEST: SHEMI (16:08):
When I was in Australia, I was also ambassador to Fiji. And uh, some ladies are working, uh, doing all sort of small work either in their France or knitting hospital, which uh, has some nurses, which like more as helpers in that country. We had three courses, one for nurses. We brought two nurses from Israel to teach these young girls. And you should have seen how things have changed in that hospital.
GUEST: SHEMI (16:42):
How you treat and take records and use ultrasound machinery to bring it and give it as a gift to this hospital for ladies. And they started coming from all over the villages to that main hospital to be checked and to get the treatment ultrasound, which was all together. It cost about $30,000 at that time. I saw the queue of ladies coming, and the doctor told me how this changed his work and how he saved lives. That was the best thing to see. New life has been there because of us Israelis. We did something small contribution like that.
HOST: JENNIFER (17:22):
That felt good. That's amazing. I love that.
GUEST: SHEMI (17:26):
Yes. It felt good. There was another thing, another short story. Pacific countries like some Tonga dui. They have that problem of needing saline because they all were suffering from ker.
HOST: JENNIFER (17:40):
Ker, what is that?
GUEST: SHEMI (17:41):
Glucose?
HOST: JENNIFER (17:42):
Oh, diabetes.
GUEST: JENNIFER (17:43):
Yes. That was our contribution. And that makes the satisfaction unbelievable. This is, uh, really a gift that you get while you serve and you are far away from your country, from your people, from your relatives.
HOST: JENNIFER (17:58):
But it's satisfying.
GUEST: SHEMI (18:00):
The satisfaction is just unbelievable.
HOST: JENNIFER (18:02):
Aw, Shemi, you're such a doll for spending time talking to me, and I appreciate it. I learned a lot, and I'm always happy to share how Israel has contributed to the world in many amazingly positive ways. We need more of those stories.
GUEST: SHEMI (18:19):
Now. I have one thing to ask. You have in mind also that in Israel, if 129 people were kidnapped by a terrorist organization, Hamas, which is like ISIS, and they were held in tunnels, nobody knows precisely where. Some of them need medications. Some of them were winded. Elderly people, 10 out of 129, are aged between 70 and 86. There are children; there are women, elderly ladies, young women babies to help us and to come with this message to government and their government, to their, uh, I don't know, uh, United Nation, the Red Cross to whoever can help them first and pray that they will be back united with their families and this message to the world.
HOST: JENNIFER (19:10):
Share that message. Yes.
GUEST: SHEMI (19:12):
I can't believe it just like that, that people kidnapped like that from their homes did nothing: no fighting and no harming anybody kidnapped from their home held by this organization. Every second day, we hear that somebody just died in this captivity. We want them back alive weekly as soon as possible.
HOST: JENNIFER (19:32):
Thank You, Shemi.
GUEST: SHEMI (19:33):
Thank you.
HOST: JENNIFER (19:35):
Thank you for listening to episode number 39 of the Going for Greatness show. I hope Ambassador Sour sheds some light on Israel's contributions to the world from his perspective. I want to leave you with a couple of thoughts. One to our absolute amazement, the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiment on US college campuses is at an all-time high. I would hope you could take a few minutes and take a deeper dive into who is funding the BDS movement to take a deeper look into the source of this funding, which is potentially from terror organizations and, more specifically, from Qatar. This is dangerous territory, not just for Israel but for all of us in the West and all of us with Western values. If you find any value in this episode, I encourage you to share it with friends or post it on social media. Thank you again for listening to the Going for Greatness show. I'm Jennifer Weissmann.