It's not unusual for the heads of foreign diplomatic missions to be Jewish.
Nor is it unusual for both Jewish and non-Jewish ambassadors to make their opening remarks in Hebrew when presenting their credentials to the President of the State.
But it is unusual for the whole conversation between the President and the new ambassador to be in Hebrew.
Yet that's what happened on Wednesday when Ezra Cohen, the new ambassador of Panama, presented his letter of credence and the letter of recall of his predecessor to President Herzog.
For Cohen, who is not a career diplomat, his appointment represents the closing of a circle.
His grandmother concerned that his father might marry a Panamanian girl who was not Jewish, sent him to pre-war Israel to find a Jewish bride. His father fought in the War of Independence, was captured by the Jordanians and taken to Jordan, where he spent many months in prison before his release in exchange for several hundred Jordanian prisoners of war.
Panama, which played a crucial role in events that led to the establishment of the State of Israel, is the only country in Latin America that does not recognize the State of Palestine.
More than that, according to Cohen, it has the largest kosher supermarket in the world and is the world's kosher tourist capital with 43 kosher restaurants where the food is so good that non-Jews are regular diner.s
For Cohen, it is an amazing coincidence to be appointed to Israel at this time, more than seven decades after his father had been taken hostage, transported to Jordan, and released in a prisoner exchange agreement.
After arriving in Israel Cohen went with a neighbor to pray in the local shtibl (study house). The family had lived in the Holy Land before moving to Panama, and although he was born there, something about the shtibl seemed familiar to him.
He called his mother in Panama and asked for the name of the shtibl where his grandfather, for whom he is named, had prayed, and it turned out to be the same one to which he had gone with his neighbor.”.Who would imagine that I would come here during the war and during a hostage crisis?” he said.
Herzog voiced the hope that Panama would move its embassy to Jerusalem
He particularly valued Cohen’s presence in Israel because “we have a lot of challenges in Latin America.”
At the conclusion of his meeting with Herzog, Cohen, who is religiously observant and wears a black kippa, wrote in the guest book in English, ”I am honored to represent Panama in Eretz Haakadosh.
“Panama has always been a strong ally of Israel.
We pray for the hostage's return NOW.”
Cohen was the second of five new ambassadors who presented their credentials to Herzog on Wednesday.
The other ambassadors
The first was Bogdan Batic of Slovenia, a career diplomat who has held various important positions in his country's foreign service. The other three ambassadors were Helena Paiva of Portugal, Xiao Junzheng of China, and Dhan Prisad Pandit of Nepal, whose entourage included Honorary Consul and celebrated mountain climber Nadav Ben Yehuda, who was the first Israeli to climb to the top of Mount Annapurna and was 300 meters short of reaching the top of Mount Everest when he stopped to save the life of a Turkish climber who had lost consciousness. Like the ambassador, he came dressed in Nepalese national costume.
Batic and Herzog concurred that relations between their two countries have had their ups and downs and were, for the most part, positive until Slovenia’s recognition of the State of Palestine and the establishment of diplomatic relations between Slovenia and Palestine in June last year.
Herzog told Batic that his presence in Israel might help to change attitudes. On a more positive note, they spoke of poet and paratrooper heroine Hannah Szenes, who, when she made her jump behind enemy lines during the Second World War, landed in Slovenia, and was the first woman in military uniform on Slovenian soil.
Herzog also mentioned that Melania Trump, the wife of the US President-elect, comes from Slovenia.
As for improving relations, Batic said that he wanted to learn more about Israel, and Herzog explained that Israel is dealing with terrorism of a horrific magnitude but prays for the day when it can make peace with its neighbors. “But first, we have to get rid of terror.”
The artwork in the main hall of the President’s Residence is full of symbolism reflecting Jewish history, and before Batic left, Herzog took time to introduce him to the various works and explain their meaning.
Paiva brought greetings from President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa of Portugal, who Herzog counts as “a dear friend”, plus an invitation for a State visit to Portugal, which Herzog said he would like to make sometime this year.
He also noted that among the hostages in Gaza, there are those with Portuguese citizenship. The two discussed the Jewish history of Portugal from the time of the expulsion of Jews during the Inquisition to recent years in which Portugal conferred citizenship on people who could furnish sufficient proof that they were descendants of Jews who had been expelled more than 500 years ago. Approximately 50,000 people have received citizenship, she said, and the final anticipated number will be 150,0000.
At the time of the expulsion, she said, the Jewish citizens represented around 15 percent of Portugal’s population.
Her job in present times, she said, was to promote good relations.
Xiao and Herzog discussed the mutual respect that two ancient peoples have for each other. On a political level, Xiao said that China respects the Israeli government for upholding the One China principle, and Herzog, for his part, said that his uncle Abba Eban had supported China’s admission to the United Nations and that his father, Chaim Herzog, has been the first President of Israel to visit China, and had accepted the credentials of the first Chinese ambassador to Israel.
He lauded the fact that China is Israel’s largest trading partner in East Asia.
Xiao spoke of China’s quest to advance modernization and its interest in working on innovative projects with Israel in the fields of economics, education, medical care, and technology.
He added that President Xi Jinping has close relations with Israel’s representatives in China.
As for people-to-relations, he said that more than 20,000 Chinese workers have been employed in Israel over the years.
Later, at the Vin d'honneur reception at the King David Hotel, in which new ambassadors get to meet their colleagues and senior figures from Israel’s business world, Xiao, replying to a question from the Jerusalem Post, confirmed that many more Chinese workers will be coming to Israel to help rebuild all that was destroyed by Hamas and throughout the war.
While still in conversation with Herzog, Xiao emphatically declared, “The Chinese Government will never allow antisemitism in our country."
China provided a haven for Jews who fled from the Holocaust.
For all the goodwill expressed by Xiao, Herzog said that he was disturbed by the rhetoric on Chinese social media.
Nothing is more important today, he said, than the return of the hostages who were brutally and sadistically treated by Hamas. He suggested that the ambassador visit those kibbutzim in which people were killed, burnt ,and tortured.
Herzog voiced his sorrow to Pandit over the Nepalese victims of Hamas. The fate of one who was kidnapped w remains unknown.
Pandit is an academic who is fluent in eight languages and who has made significant contributions at international conferences and in his own country to the fields of gender studies and political science.
Ten Nepalese students studying in the Negev via Mashav were murdered. Herzog referenced Dr. Haim Shaked, who headed the school where they were about to begin their studies, and who took it upon himself to go to Nepal and visit each of the grieving families.
Although Nepal has been reluctant to send more students to Israel, Herzog told Pandit that it is now safe to do so. “I think everyone understands that the war is to prevent further terrorism,” he said.
Relating to Pandit’s vast academic experience and his impressive store of knowledge, Herzog added, “I think you can teach Israelis a lot about the East.”