Israeli Ambassador: – “Austria will always have a place in my heart”

After almost exactly four years in Austria, Israeli Ambassador Mordechai Rodgold takes his yarmulke and travels back to Israel with his wife. His successor will soon move into the house built by Adolf Loos in the Villa Mollner in Pötzleinsdorf. For his farewell interview, the top diplomat came to the high-rise “Krone” in Vienna-Heiligenstadt, where he once again enjoyed the unique view of Vienna from the 14th floor. “Please take a farewell photo with this view as a background,” he says to photo boss Reinhard Holl of “Krone”. Nothing is simpler than that, Mr. Ambassador.

Ambassador leaves with “mixed feelings”
Can he say goodbye easily and is he looking forward to going home again? Of course, says Mordechai Rodgold in virtually accent-free German (quite an achievement for someone whose native language is Hebrew), of course he’s looking forward to being home. After all, everyone likes to come home after years abroad. “But I leave with mixed feelings, sweet and sour, so to speak. Because it was very nice here and we had a great time – despite Corona. I find it difficult to divorce. But that’s the life of a diplomat: a new station every four years.”

“Sababa” or “Oida”?
During his years in Austria, the diplomat explains with a smile, he significantly expanded his German vocabulary: “I now say tomatoes, potatoes or apricots.” And of course he knows what ‘Oida’ means – or rather, how many meanings it has. a whole Austrian word can have Word depending on the emphasis it puts. There’s a very similar word in Hebrew, says Rodgold: “‘Sababa’ can also mean many things, depending on the context in which you use it and how you emphasize it.”

And then follows a sentence that can almost be interpreted as a declaration of love for Austria: “In Vienna you feel much closer to our Mediterranean Sea than further north in Europe. Not only geographically, but also humanly. Can you even say that? Yes, because comfort is something that has a positive influence on the quality of life.”

Austria’s image in Israel is now very good, the ambassador continued – and vice versa. It is not without reason that there are forty flights a week between Vienna and Tel Aviv, and they are all full: ‘Last year there were a million Israeli overnight stays in Austria.’ “If governments have good relations with each other, this is also reflected in civil society,” he explains. Israelis would appreciate Austria as a great holiday destination – the culture, the green mountains, the landscape. And the vibrant Mediterranean metropolis of Tel Aviv is in turn very attractive to many Austrians.

“Special friends”
One of the many highlights of his former service was certainly the signing of the agreement on the ‘strategic partnership’ between Israel and Austria by Chancellor Karl Nehammer a year ago: ‘That opens doors for the future. For youth exchange, economic and scientific cooperation and much more.” Israel and Austria are “special friends” because of this agreement.

About the situation in his home country and the mass demonstrations against the planned curtailment of the Supreme Court’s power, Rodgold says: “The debate is very heated, but it moves within a democratic framework. President Yitzhak Herzog took the initiative for the negotiations. And 73 percent of Israelis favor a compromise.”

And when it comes to the Palestinians, he says they must choose between partnership and violence: “Violence has brought nothing to the Palestinians. The path to peace means cooperation and compromise.” Finally, the friendly Israeli says: “Austria will always have a place in my heart.” And then he says goodbye: “Ciao, baba.”