´I believe Israel is more than just a country. I see it as a living testament to a smal people´s capacity to overcome impossible odds through the sheer force of their commitment to knowledge, freedom and compassion´.
With a major degree in zoology, a Canadian passport and a history of involvement in Jewish causes - like the Birthright trips bringing young Jews from North America to Israel, Aviva Klompas landed a job as speechwriter at the Israel´s UN mission in NYC. Learning to be ´less apologetic, more acerbic´, but also getting to know the very different Israel work and diplomatic culture, she had to learn on the job about diplomacy, how UN and its many committees and bizarre decisions operates, but first and foremost how to properly communicate with her non-conformist chief, ambassador Ron Prosor - also called the ´singing diplomat´ among others.
It is a lot of hard work and late hours, not paid at all, she is underpaid and often spending more than 20 hours the day, including during the weekends, connected to her work gadgets and colleagues. But Aviva Klompas is coping with the task in a very professional, diplomatic way: this is her assignment - or rather long list of assignments - and she will go through it, with decency and intelligence. Keeping her wits in the middle of the frequent diplomatic storms that Israel is always the target at the UN, worked in her professional advantage. Elegantly and using her cultural and intellectual connectins, she wrote speeches with battle lines where biblical history meets pop music. When there are so many different - frequently negative - opinions about you, one need to be prepared to answer a wide array of audiences, isn´t it?
Criticism is not an issue, obsession about what Israel is doing - and what not - belongs to a different category of political behavior and unfortunatelly, at the UN level, there are way too many manifestations in this respect - an example being the loud actions of the honorably UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. 72 years after the creation of the state of Israel - by the way, #HappyYomHaatzmaut - there are still political actors spending/wasting their time denying its right to exist. ´Criticizing Israel´s actions or policies is by no means anti-Semitic, but when the condemnation is grossly disproportionate, or Israel alone is repeatedly singled out, or the language of denunciation vile or tinged with libelous stereotype, then it´s hard to see how the action is not discriminatory and anti-Semitic´.
Speaking for Israel by Aviva Klompas can be read though also as part of a larger bibliography covering UN ways to operate and the everyday working of a speechwriter. Writing other people´s public statements, interacting with global and national policies as well as with unique personalities requires patience, humility and a lot of diplomacy. The author´s professional approach in all respects is following facts and figures, her own experiences which are introduced in a matter of fact way, avoiding the drama and black-and-white approaches typical for a political topic like Israel and the UN.
Klompas´ adventures in the world of UN and especialy Israeli diplomacy are funny - not the same hilarious level though as the one shared in the memoir of another Canadian that worked at the Israeli mission to the UN in 2004, Gregory Levey, before working for the then prime minister Ariel Sharon until 2006 as speechwriter for the English-speaking audiences - but with a humour that helps everyone survive the diplomatic real life. Such experiences are good to have in your professional life, even for just a short while.
Rating: 4 stars
Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review
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