FM Gideon Saar-speaks to journalists as Israeli Amba to the UN Danny Danon looks on ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on the hostages and the Gaza war at the UN hq on August 5 2025 in NYC Photo by Angela Weiss/ Shmuel Legesse at The Sephardic Temple of Cedarhurst in Cedarhurst, N.Y., June 8, 2014. (Photo credit and commercial-use permission: Jeremy Mayer)

By Dr. Shmuel Legesse: Former NYC Supreme Court Investigator/Detective/educator in conflict resolution, restorative peace, and moral diplomacy; Upcoming Author of Moral Diplomacy for a Broken World, inspired by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

Last week in Jerusalem, 180 ambassadors gathered not to celebrate, but to prepare. In the echo of war, amid the highest surge of antisemitism in living memory, and after the shifting winds of the Abraham Accords, Israel’s diplomats now stand at a crossroads. Their mission is no longer traditional diplomacy; it is moral re-definition.

As an international educator in conflict resolution, restorative peace, and moral diplomacy and as someone who walked from the courts of New York City to the streets of Jerusalem I believe this is the moment Israeli diplomacy must restart not with speeches, but with soul.

For too long, Israel has been framed by narrow images: high-tech, start-ups, a “strong army,” and sometimes contested territorial policies. But the world sees what we show it, and the picture we have painted is incomplete. That narrative sells neither the depth of our history nor the diversity of our people and lately, we are paying the price in slander, delegitimization, and hate. Our diplomats must become living proof of something bigger. They must highlight that Israel is not just a “white-Jewish state,” but a mosaic from Ashkenazi to Ethiopian, Mizrahi to global Jewry. They must tell the story of return, of heritage, of communities like Ethiopian-Jews/Israeli community that carried ancient Judaism across continents, deserts, and seas. They must show the Israel of prayer, toil, vulnerability, and compassion not just conflict.

As Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (z”l)........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)