Israeli ambassador's farewell speech

By Akiva Tor

Dear Friends and Colleagues

Thank you for attending this farewell reception and for honoring myself and the State of Israel by your presence.

I would like to thank our host Dr. Jung Yeon-hoon for his generosity and hospitality and the staff and the organization of FEBC, Far East Broadcasting, for all they have been for me and Israel during my mission in Korea. Rev. Billy Kim has been a patient shepherd, a wise adviser, a rock of support, a tremendous asset and before all else a loyal and trustworthy friend in good times and in times of testing. Rev. Kim always says to me on the phone – “What is a friend for? A friend is for when the sea gets rough.”

These last four years I have devoted to the advance of the Korea-Israel relationship, a relationship of great promise for both sides. Israeli innovation coupled with Korean manufacture and marketing genius can produce the world’s leading autonomous vehicle. As technology middle powers, together we can forge a joint national AI and quantum computing plan which will rival the great technology powers. Together we can do much more on the face of the moon than either of us can do apart. And as two democracies facing a severe missile threat with a nuclear dimension, together we can build the advanced defensive system that will protect our peoples, a system which until now has only been imagined.

I apologize that I did not meet my essential goal as ambassador — to realize the first visit of a Republic of Korea president in Israel. But we are on the right track, and as things calm in our region back home, I believe this will surely happen, in the near future rather than the distant.

To my dear colleagues the ambassadors — our job is to be the best face of our countries, but not only that. We are a working part of the international system, and in our own small corner we need to help our nations be better, to be the best that they can be.

I have always been in love with Israel. I was taught this as a young boy, the son of a rabbi growing up in midwestern America, by my father and mother who inscribed on their wedding invitation — “Ten years to the establishment of the state of Israel”. They believed, as do I and Naomi, that the ingathering and return of the Jewish people to their homeland and the revival of the Hebrew language is a modern miracle in our time.

I have always been proud to represent Israel, even on its most difficult day. I believe that Israel is the ultimate test of democracy and the human spirit. Israel isn’t perfect and we make mistakes, but we are fundamentally decent. Fighting a difficult urban war with the cameras of the entire world perched on your shoulder, will be a harsh test even for the most pristine society. It goes to a fundamental question — Is self-defense by a decent democracy still possible? I believe the statement made in 1968 by the American philosopher Eric Hoffer still rings true — “I have a premonition that will not leave me. As it goes with Israel, so will it go with all of us.”

Israel needs to maintain above all else its internal sense of solidarity and mutual responsibility. If we are united, there is almost no challenge we cannot meet. If we lack unity, we will have a very hard time in our region. This is why we must bring our captives home, those who are living and those who, God forbid, are not. If we abandon them, we abandon ourselves.

I want to thank Naomi and my four children for their support of my work here. I would like to honor my children — Yonah, Zohar, Yehudah and Roni — who contribute to the defense of Israel with selflessness and are willing to risk everything. I am not sure how I deserved them, honestly.

Naomi you are my great partner in the journey of life. Thank you for contributing so much to the success of our mission and for taking care of our family during their mobilization in this prolonged and terrible war.

Thank you to the devoted staff of the Israeli Embassy in Korea, both Israelis and Koreans. To our Korean staff who have made Israel’s challenges their own. It has truly been a great honor to serve with you.

I really feel for Korea, a nation so different from and yet so resembling the Jewish people. Korea will overcome all its challenges. The birthrate will recover, and ultimately, in the fullness of time, the Korean peninsula will be reunited in the proper way. You are an ancient people, older than the Jews by a thousand years, and a nation which has endured this long contains hidden strengths which will overcome the current crisis.

The Middle East will eventually return to calm. Israel’s relations with our Arab peace partners will recover, and the Abraham Accords will widen to include Saudi Arabia and others. Ultimately, we will find the way to make peace in our most troubled relationship, but the one which is most consequential and which holds the greatest promise — our relations with our immediate neighbor, the Palestinian people. The Hebrew Bible and the Holy Quran both proclaim that we are cousins, and our faith traditions will prove to be an essential asset in the search for peace.

I return at the end of August to Israel and to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem. About my next steps, I prefer to do rather than to say. I promise you that I will make as much noise as possible.

Please welcome my successor, Ambassador Rafi Harpaz, with the same graciousness with which I have been received.

Thank you, Republic of Korea and its people!

May Israel and Korea become ever closer!

Shalom chaverim, Lehitraot.

Akiva Tor is the outgoing ambassador of Israel to South Korea.