Ambassador's and diplomats at the the Jewish Agency's Ben Yakir Youth Aliyah Village.

April 14, 2008 / 9 Nissan 5768

Ambassadors from countries including Australia, South Africa, Latvia, Belarus, Kenya, Chile, Uruguay, Bosnia and Hezegovina, and Cameroon, the longest-serving Ambassador to Israel, experienced first-hand the Jewish Agency's wide-ranging work in absorbing  new immigrants, closing social gaps, assisting youth at-risk, advancing co-existence and strengthening Israeli society.

The group visited an absorption center in Upper Nazareth, where they spoke with new immigrants from Ethiopia and India; the Ben Yakir Youth Village which provides educational and social intervention for youth at-risk; a young communities student village that is strengthening the city of Upper Nazareth and a coexistence project at Kibbutz Ganigar. They also met with high school students from the periphery who receive certification from the global technology giant Cisco Systems as computer and network technicians through the Net@ program, and students the world over who came to study and volunteer in Israel through MASA– the gateway to long-term Israel programs.

“I’m in Israel for two years already, and it is the first time I had an opportunity to see with my own eyes what the Jewish Agency is all about,” said Lithuania’s ambassador to Israel, Asta Skaisgiryte, to the JTA news agency. “The scale of their work is something that I could not imagine until I saw it with my own eyes.”

Jewish Agency chairman Zeev Bielski stressed the importance of showing Israel's diplomatic corps the country beyond politics.

“The ambassadors that are located in Israel are very much aware of the political situation, but they are not aware of the activities of the Jewish Agency in Israel and what we do in their countries,” said Bielski.