■ IT HAS sometimes been said of diplomats that they are soldiers in suits instead of uniforms. This comes to mind as Holocaust Remembrance Day approaches, and we remember heroic diplomats such as Raoul Wallenberg and Chiune Sugihara, who saved thousands of Jewish lives through their courage and their integrity as human beings, which included disobeying the instructions of their respective Foreign Ministries.
Among the heads of foreign missions in Israel is an ambassador who likewise displayed enormous courage and integrity in 2017, saving the life of a young Indian woman, Uzma Ahmed, who did not know that the Pakistani man whom she planned to marry was a member of the Taliban.
While they were courting, he had been sweet and kind, but once she got to Pakistan, she discovered that he was cruel and already married with children. She wanted to turn around and go home, but neither he nor his comrades would allow her to leave. They subjected her to physical and sexual violence and forced her into a marriage she did not want.
She somehow managed to escape and get inside the door of the Indian High Commission in Pakistan just before her captors caught up with her.
This led to a serious diplomatic crisis between India and Pakistan. The Indian authorities, who suspected that she was a Pakistani spy, required absolute proof of her Indian citizenship; the Pakistanis suspected that she was an Indian spy.
The diplomat who saved her was J.P Singh, who, at the time, was India’s deputy high commissioner in Pakistan and now serves as India’s ambassador to Israel.
The highly dramatic story led to the production of a film, The Diplomat, starring Indian actor and film producer John Abraham as Singh. The film had its Israeli premiere this week at the Foreign Ministry and was attended by several diplomats – mainly from Asia – and a large segment of Israel’s Indian community, including celebrated Indian restaurateurs Reena and Vinod Pushkarna, whose own story is worth a film.
Nurit Tinari, who heads the ministry’s cultural division, said that this was the first time that a film had been premiered in the auditorium of the Foreign Ministry. The auditorium is already like that of a cinema, but to create a more authentic atmosphere, viewers were given popcorn and bottles of water.
Prior to the screening, there was a brief video in which Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar (the Indians have a tendency to use their initials rather than their first names) said the film would naturally interest all those in the diplomatic profession and is a reminder that every day is a new day.
He, himself, had been involved in the matter, he said.
Tinari underscored that the film highlights how important diplomacy can be in saving human lives, particularly in our times. She said that when she first saw the film, she applauded.
It is indeed an impressive film. When Uzma Ahmed thanked Singh for his kindness, he replied that he was a diplomat by profession, not by character. The film also showed him coping with tensions between India and Pakistan, the bureaucracy of both countries, physical attacks, attempts to kill him, and a cute but precocious young son while handling Ahmed’s predicament.
Her husband had taken the case to court in a bid to secure a judgment that would keep her in Pakistan. But the judge was fair, fearless, and independent and ruled against him.
The audience applauded.
Toward the conclusion of the film, Singh, despite all the difficulties involved and a last-minute attempt by a senior Pakistani official to prevent Ahmed from crossing the border, personally escorts her back into India. Mission accomplished.
The real-life Singh, prior to the screening, met with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who had planned to attend but had been called to an urgent meeting in the Prime Minister’s Office.
But Eden Bar Tal, the director-general of the Foreign Ministry, was present and spoke of his own time in India, where the hospitality and kindness of the Indian people left a lasting impression on him.
Singh himself, in thanking the ministry for its special gesture in showing the film, said the episode involving Ahmed was the most difficult situation he had faced in his whole life. He wished Israel the same success in returning its hostages to the security of their homeland.
Following the screening, he was inundated with appreciation and good wishes. Everyone was thrilled to have a real live hero in their midst.
Herzog standing for the hostages' families
■ NO PUBLIC figure has been as intensely involved with the return of the hostages still held in captivity in Gaza and in being in constant contact with their families as President Isaac Herzog. In the course of a trip to northern communities on Wednesday, he stopped off in Tiberias to visit the tomb of Rambam (Rabbi Moses Maimonides) to pray for the swift return of the remaining hostages in Gaza.
Following his return to Jerusalem, Herzog posted on X/Twitter his disgust with the United Nations Human Rights Council, stating that the UNHRC report and resolution which had been issued that day “represent the highest form of victim-blaming and the lowest form of moral clarity.”
Herzog quoted the harrowing words of Amit Soussana, a released hostage who endured sexual abuse at the hands of the barbaric Hamas terrorists and who just a day earlier had been honored and decorated by the US Administration for her bravery:
“In captivity, I had no control over my body, no control over my life. I resisted as best as I could,” said Soussana, who, as a result of an interview she gave to The New York Times, drew world attention to the hapless plight of all innocent women captured in conflict and subjected to violent sexual assault.
“The UNHRC has long abandoned moral integrity, but even by its standards, this is a new low. Whitewashing Hamas atrocities while ignoring Israeli pain and agony is not ‘justice’; it’s an insult to truth and decency. It’s an insult to humanity,” Herzog declared.
■ IS THERE a difference between the Holocaust and genocide? Some would say only in the numbers. Jews would definitely make a distinction between the two. But to the families of the victims, survivors of mass murder, and the nation that shares their pain, genocide and the Holocaust are one and the same.
Rwanda’s ambassador to Israel, James Gatera, on Monday, April 7 at the Yitzhak Rabin Center in Tel Aviv, will mark the 31st anniversary of the Rwandan genocide in which more than half a million Tutsi, along with members of other tribes, were systematically killed by extremist Hutu elements in a period of 100 days, and women were violently raped before they were murdered.
■ IN AN attempt to keep his government in office and himself in power, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is risking political suicide by inflating his already oversized government to 34 ministers. This came after announcing that he would close all superfluous ministries.
But politics being politics, that didn’t happen, nor did we see a cut in the salaries of ministers and MKs, which are currently in excess of NIS50,000 per month, at a time of rising prices, fiscal cutbacks on pensions and grants, plus the additional strain of extended reserve duty in the army.
It would be interesting to know how many members of the legislature have served as IDF reservists during the past 18 months. When Ran Cohen and Eitan Cabel were MKs, they were very proud to do their reserve duty in the IDF and even showed up at the Knesset and the President’s Residence in their army uniforms.
■ IN HONOR of the 100th anniversary of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the administration, faculty, students, and alumni will gather this coming Sunday not in Jerusalem but in Tel Aviv, where, together with HU President Prof. Asher Cohen, they will participate in a ceremony for the opening of trade that day on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. The ceremony will be broadcast live on the TASE YouTube channel.
■ LAST FRIDAY’S Jerusalem Post included a glossy, attractive, and comprehensive magazine titled Pesach. Published by the Orthodox Union, it included articles by several learned rabbis: Menachem Genack, Moshe Elefant, Avi Berman, Ezra Friedman, Moshe Zywica, Eli Gersten, David Bistricer, Dov Schreier, Gavriel Price, and Yissacher Dov Krakowski.
The articles are mostly about different aspects of kashrut and will make some readers realize that their kitchens are not as kosher as they thought they were. Because the magazine is basically devoted to the Passover dietary laws, what is missing is an important article on pilgrimage. Passover is one of the three very important pilgrim festivals in which the Children of Israel were commanded to gather in Jerusalem.
However, the newspapers are full of advertisements for Pesach in Europe, with well-known scholars-in-residence, speakers, and entertainers to ensure the interest and entertainment of all participants. Secular participants spending Pesach or any other Jewish holiday outside of Jerusalem or Israel in general is understandable, but in the case of observant Jews, particularly the rabbis who guide them, that’s almost a desecration, especially when participants include residents of Jerusalem.