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Itongadol.- The relationship between Israel and Jordan is capable of meeting all challenges while the Hashemite kingdom plays a key role in the region, and its stability is crucially important, President Reuven Rivlin said Monday.
“This is something the Western countries should also make a priority,” he said, adding that under the responsible leadership of King Abdullah, Jordan will continue to play a central role in the region.
“King Abdullah is a brave man who puts peace in the region at the top of his agenda” said Rivlin told a visiting delegation of honorary consuls prior to his first state visit abroad in Poland.
In the course of his address to the Honorary Consuls, who are in Israel under the auspices of the Protocol Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rivlin, noting that Israel had celebrated the twentieth anniversary of its peace treaty with Jordan the previous day, said that the agreement was of strategic importance to both sides.
“It is not only a peace treaty between two states, but between two peoples," he said.
In introducing the Honorary Consuls to Rivlin, Talya Lador-Fresher, the Chief of Protocol at the Foreign Ministry said that this was the second global conference of honorary consuls working tirelessly on behalf of Israel.
Out of 77 Honorary Israel Consuls, many of who are not Jewish, 45 came to Israel at their own expense, she said, and of these 13 are from countries in which Israel has no embassy, including one from Nicaragua and another from Bolivia, countries which have no diplomatic relations with Israel.
Rivlin upgraded them and termed them “Ambassadors of Israel, ambassadors of Jerusalem." He acknowledged that what they are doing is a far from easy task.
“In each of your countries, there are people who have made it their number one priority to preach hatred of Israel. They have decided that of all the problems in the world, the number one threat to humanity is the Jewish State,” he said. “This tiny, democratic country, surrounded by so many hostile nations – they want to boycott us. They want to silence our voices. They want to isolate us. Even if that means hurting the Palestinians they claim to be helping. Such blind hatred can only be the result of ignorance or anti-Semitism. We must of course call out the anti-Semites. But to the others, we must show Israel is a modern country that seeks peace with its neighbors, and gives so much to the world in the fields of medicine, environment, technology, literature and more.”
While the Honorary Consuls are defending Israel’s interests in their home countries, Rivlin said that Israel has its own role to play in building bridges and making peace.
The president was qustioned about what he wanted to achieve for Israel, how Israel can at one and the same time be a democratic and Jewish State and how Israel can help other countries that have problems with their Muslim populations.
Rivlin conceded that reconciling a Jewish state with a democratic state is a struggle because the Arab citizens of Israel say that if it’s democratic, why not a state of all its citizens, “and we say it is our prerogative to define Israel as a Jewish state.” On the other hand there is still no consensus on what constitutes a Jewish state, which is why Israel has no constitution, Rivlin explained.
Referring to his visit the previous day to the Arab city of Kafr Kassim, where 58 years ago, 49 residents were massacred by Israeli Border Police, Rivlin said: “We have to admit that we did wrong. Till now, no-one wanted to go on memorial day, but I, who am fluent in Arabic, thought I should go. Our destiny is together and we must find a way to build this country together.”
Rivlin said that he could not think of Israel being a Jewish state without being a democratic state. “If we want peace in this area, we need to have open borders,” he said. He was optimistic that once there is peace, no-one will shoot rockets at Israel and no-one will question Israel’s right to exist.
“We don’t have a war with Islam,” Rivlin asserted, “but with fundamentalism and with Hamas and Hezbollah which are the messengers of Iran.”
Rivlin stated that before anyone belongs to any religion, he is first and foremost a human being, and this must be uppermost in dealings between people. “We all believe in the one God and He is the God of all of us,” he said.
Asked whether he would work towards a state visit to Cairo, Rivlin replied that Israel has to find a way to be in touch with all the leaders of the region. Any president who wants to come to Israel will be welcome he said, and if any of them offer him a government-back invite, he would be happy to accept.