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‘How can I do better?’ Israeli ambassador’s candid confession

9 0
06.01.2025

Amir Maimon is no stranger to diplomatic challenges.

Israel’s ambassador to Australia began his foreign service career in Ethiopia in the early 1990s, when the sitting government in Addis Ababa was on the verge of being toppled by a coalition of left-wing rebel groups.

Israeli ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon says he wants to do more to explain Israel’s position in the Middle East.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Maimon, a retired lieutenant colonel who served for 14 years in the Israeli military’s paratrooper unit, used his experience to co-ordinate the daring airlift of 14,325 Ethiopian Jews to Israel in less than two days.

The secret mission, known as Operation Solomon, involved cramming more than 1000 people onto a single aeroplane with its seats removed, a world record that remains intact today.

Maimon went on to hold senior diplomatic postings in London, Canada, Turkey and Washington before serving as Israel’s first ambassador to Lithuania.

He arrived in Canberra as Israeli ambassador in January 2022 on a mission to refocus the relationship from the conflict with Palestine towards trade, defence and technological co-operation.

It was not to be.

The following October, Hamas militants stormed across the border from Gaza, killing an estimated 1200 Israelis and taking about 250 people hostage. As Israel launched a........

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