George Deek ( he, ג'ורג' דיק, ar, جورج ديك; born ) is an

Arab-Israeli The Arab citizens of Israel are the largest ethnic minority in the country. They comprise a hybrid community of Israeli citizens with a heritage of Palestinian citizenship, mixed religions (Muslim, Christian or Druze), bilingual in Arabic an ...

diplomat. In 2018, Deek was appointed Israeli ambassador to

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

. He is the first

Israeli Arab The Arab citizens of Israel are the largest ethnic minority in the country. They comprise a hybrid community of Israeli citizens with a heritage of Palestinian citizenship, mixed religions (Muslim, Christian or Druze), bilingual in Arabic an ...

Christian to become an

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

Childhood, education, and family background

Deek grew up in an

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

family in the

Ajami ''Ajam'' ( ar, عجم, ʿajam) is an Arabic word meaning mute, which today refers to someone whose mother tongue is not Arabic. During the Arab conquest of Persia, the term became a racial pejorative. In many languages, including Persian, Tur ...

neighborhood of

Jaffa Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...

, in a building where the other tenants included

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and a Catholic priest of Jewish ancestry. His father, who worked as a tax advisor, 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; in 2015 a square was inaugurated in his memory in Jaffa in the presence of Mayor

Ron Huldai Ron Huldai ( he, רוֹן חוּלְדָּאִי; born 26 August 1944) is the current Mayor of Tel Aviv, since 1998. Before he entered his role as Tel Aviv mayor, Huldai served as a fighter pilot and a commander in the Israeli Air Force. After ...

. According to Deek, his grandparents fled to Lebanon for safety during the

1947–1949 Palestine war The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. It is known in Israel as the War of Independence ( he, מלחמת העצמאות, ''Milkhemet Ha'Atzma'ut'') and ...

, 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. 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 but Jewish friends and co-workers got him released. Deek's relatives who also fled in 1947 but did not return now live scattered around the world. Deek has stated that he is of

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

heritage through his father's side; his paternal great-grandmother was a survivor of the

Armenian Genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was ...

. Deek is a graduate of Radzyner Law School. He also studied at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

on a

Fulbright Fellowship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

Career

Deek joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2008. He was deputy chief of mission to Nigeria from 2009 to 2012. Deek was posted to Oslo in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

from 2012 to 2015 where he served as deputy ambassador; he was the acting ambassador during the

2014 Israel–Gaza conflict The 2014 Gaza War, also known as Operation Protective Edge ( he, מִבְצָע צוּק אֵיתָן, translit=Miv'tza Tzuk Eitan, ), was a military operation launched by Israel on 8 July 2014 in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territories, Pale ...

. In 2018, at age 34, Deek was appointed ambassador to

. Deek is the first Israeli Arab Christian to hold ambassadorial rank. Israel has had Arab ambassadors in the past.

Ali Yahya Ali Yahya ( ar, علی یحیی, he, עלי יחיא; – 11 September 2014) was an Israeli Arab diplomat. He became the first Israeli ambassador of Arab descent in 1995 when he was appointed Ambassador to Finland, a post in which he served unt ...

was ambassador to Finland and to Greece.

External links

Twitter account

Facebook account

Instagram account

Speech of 2014-11-17 "My family's story in 1948 - fleeing Jaffa, building a future in Israel."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deek, George 1980s births Ambassadors of Israel to Azerbaijan Arab citizens of Israel Israeli Arab Christians Living people Israeli people of Armenian descent