Jeff Seidel’s 2013 Poland trip was hands down one of the most memorable and significant experiences of my life. Being that both of my maternal grandparents and family members are Holocaust survivors, I knew that going to Poland was something I needed to do to. Having a small group of fellow college students, a chief tour guide from Yad Vashem, and of course Jeff Seidel & company alongside, I had the opportunity and strength to visit my Grandma’s lager in Auschwitz. Going back to hell on earth & bearing witness to where my Grandparents, family, and all the victims of Nazi evil were imprisoned, enlightened me with a new understanding & appreciation of where my family came from , who I am, and to never ever forget the horrors of the not so distant Holocaust.
Liza Zeif-Foreman Tel Aviv U 2013/GWU
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.
