A BREATH OF
fresh air
His excellency, Israeli ambassador Arthur
Lenk I BY MOIRA SCHNEIDER, CAPE TOWN
Israeli ambassador Arthur Lenk is keen to promote Israeli expertise in fields such as agriculture.
ISRAELI AMBASSADOR ARTHUR LENK IS PASsionate about breaking down barriers,
connecting with people and dispelling
the notion that “all we do is cocktails and
hobnob with whoever people hobnob
with”. As one of the strings to his bow, he
is active on social media, with a strong
presence on Facebook and Twitter.
In fact, on the occasions that I have
messaged him, I’ve had a response
within 15 minutes, surely impressive
for someone in his position. Lenk says
he’s “having a good time with it”, while
laughingly commenting, “It’s not a
good sign – that means I’m not doing
enough of the ‘real’ work!”
14 JEWISH LIFE
ISSUE 72
On a more serious note, he agrees
that this is the way to go in the modern
era. “How often does the Israeli ambassador to South Africa get invited to
speak in front of an audience of 1 300
people – probably not every day, right?
“But, every time I put something on
my Facebook page, I reach 1 300 people
at least, sometimes many more, and so
it’s powerful,” he stresses. “I’ve had a
couple of messages that I’ve put up that
really resounded – they’ve become almost viral and they’ve reached 10 000
or 15 000 people.
“The truth is that in these modern
times, that’s the way to reach more peo-
ple. I thought that if I developed a social
media presence, and especially on Facebook, to be able to show some of the
things that I do, whether it’s promoting
Israeli trade or Israeli development opportunities, or interacting with South
Africans in a one-on-one way, it gives a
different picture of what an Israeli diplomat does and what the relationship between Israel and South Africa could be.”
Needless to say, the ebullient ambassador has no desire to be a remote figure in an ivory tower. “What’s the fun
of that?” he asks.
“My job is to be in South Africa, Lesotho, Mauritius and Swaziland and
meet people and interact and share
our message from Israel that we have
things in common and things that we
can do together.”
Lenk, who arrived in SA last August,
has been in the diplomatic corps for 20
years. He studied law at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, having left his native New Jersey some years earlier.
After completing his articles of clerkship, he took the Bar exam, started
practising law and “hated it”. He responded to an Israeli government advert seeking young Foreign Service officers, “without thinking too much about
what it meant”, went through the process and was accepted.
“I feel incredibly blessed,” he says
now, “to get paid to go to places like India, or Azerbaijan or South Africa, and
it’s my job to chat with nice people and
to tell the story about great things that
Israel can do with them.”
Lenk actually requested the assignment – one that could be regarded as
something of a poisoned chalice, considering the sometimes parlous relationship between the two countries.
But being a “glass half full” sort of person, he refuses to be discouraged by
disheartening developments.
“Are things perfect? No, but there’s
no place that they are,” he states.
“The truth is that here in South Africa,
the relationship is at a better place than
most people think,” he maintains, men-
PHOTOGRAPH: SUPPLIED
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