President Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin today, (Thursday 20 December) welcomed Israeli ambassadors from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific regions to Beit HaNasi and addressed them.

The president began by thanking the ambassadors: “this meeting is an opportunity to thank you all for your efforts and your dedication. The relations you create, your diplomatic efforts, the partnerships, the links with science, arts and culture, the economic bridges you build, make Israel more open and make Israel safer. To a great extent, thanks to you, the State of Israel is known in the world and enjoys recognition and legitimacy.”

The president spoke about the growing problem of anti-Semitism in Europe and the calls to fight it: “European national discourse is often accompanied by anti-Semitism and xenophobia and that poses problems for Jewish communities and the State of Israel. I have said before and I will say it again: we must not show any tolerance for expressions of anti-Semitism. We reject anti-Semitism, even if it takes on different guises, hiding behind the fig-leaf of supporting and loving the State of Israel.”

The president added, “The State of Israel is an extremely impressive success story of a developing country that turned into a great power. Much of Israel’s industry grew out of our experience as a developing country. We became experts in finding solutions because we depended on those solutions. What the world expects of Israel, and what we expect of ourselves deep down, is to help other developing countries and societies to make the same leap that we did. We have gone from absolute dependence to full sustainability, particularly in the fields of agriculture, water, food, energy, education and health.”