Hi Jeff, I wanted to thank you again for the opportunity to come on the Poland trip. It was truly a meaningful experience. The trip added a new depth to my understanding of the Holocaust, my family history, zionism and the importance of a Jewish state. Poland solidified so much about who I am and who I want to be going forward. It reaffirmed the importance of family traditions and took the development of my Jewish identity one step further. This thank you cannot not convey how much I gained from the trip, but I hope it can begin to show how grateful I am to have had the experience. Thank you for everything,
Hannah Lieberman – Heb U 2013
17
Jun
Jun
George Deek is an Arab-Israeli diplomat. In 2018, Deek was appointed Israeli ambassador to Azerbaijan. He is the first Israeli Arab Christian to become an ambassador. Deek grew up in an Eastern Orthodox Christian family in the Ajami neighborhood of Jaffa, in a building where the other tenants included Muslims, Catholics, Jews and a Catholic priest of Jewish ancestry.[2][3] His father, who worked as a tax advisor,[3] was one of the leaders of the Christian community in Jaffa who served as chairman of the Orthodox Association, and was considered a well-known and popular figure in the city until in 2015 a square was inaugurated in his memory in Jaffa in the presence of Mayor Ron Huldai.[4] According to Deek, his grandparents fled to Lebanon for safety when the 1947–1949 Palestine war, having been told that the Jews would slaughter them if they remained in their homes, but expecting to return home once Arab armies defeated the Jews.[3] According to Deek, when the war ended, his grandparents felt that they had been “deceived”, and decided to return illegally to their home in Jaffa rather than remaining in Lebanon as refugees. Since reentering the country was illegal, Deek’s grandfather, an electrician, was arrested and jailed.
