Serbian Gratitude to Israelis
Arie Livne (on the right) with Serbian Minister Vukcevic
Arie Livne laying a wreath at the site of Jasenovac death camp complex in the fall of 2005.
Thank You, Mr Livne!
Belgrade, Serbia Feb 5, 2007 (Source: Serbian Government) — Serbian Minister for Diaspora Vojislav Vukcevic today presented Arie Livne with a special letter of thanks for his merits in strengthening friendly ties between the Serbian and Jewish people, and for the contribution to mutual respect and cooperation between Serbia and Israel.
A statement by the Ministry for Diaspora says that apart from Vukcevic, Israeli Ambassador to Serbia Yaffa Ben-Ari and former Serbian ambassador to Israel Krinka Vidakovic-Petrov also spoke at the ceremony, which was attended among others by rabbi of the Belgrade Synagogue Isak Asiel and Serbia’s President of the Association of Jewish Municipalities, Aca Singer.
Arie Livne was born in 1921 in northern Serbian province of Vojvodina and emigrated to Israel in 1956. He worked at the Jewish agency for 40 years — an institution which by strengthening ties between the Jewish Diaspora and Israel largely contributed to the creation of the present day Jewish state.
In the past 10 years Livne has participated in all activities aimed at developing good relations between Serbia and Israel. He used his numerous international contacts to help Serbia achieve its international interests and in 1999 he lobbied for the termination of bombing of Serbia.
His interest in improving relations between Serbs and Jews is not limited only to Serbia. He is the economic representative of Republika Srpska (Serbian part of Bosnia) in Israel and he was bestowed with the Order of Honor of Republika Srpska of First Degree for his merits in helping the Serbian people. Livne is also a special advisor at the World Jewish Congress for the countries of the former Yugoslavia.
Comments
This is a such nice example of how old ties between Jews and Serbs are not forgotten! Thank you, Sir! For all that you are doing to show to ignorants that people and nations can live, work and create together...
Posted by: Vladimir Grozdanovic | February 10, 2007 10:10 AM
Thank you for saying it, Vladimir!
Fortunately for us, there are many more beautiful examples of deservedly praised and cherished Jewish righteousness and selflessness, people who are doing more to unearth the truth about Serbs than many of us. Julia Gorin is someone we can never thank enough, but so is Nathan Pearlstein and the guys gathered around IsraPundit, Jared Israel of Emperor's Clothes, and many others...
The very fact that Israel was supporting and aiding Serbs in the Bosnian and Kosovo-Metohija wars speaks volumes of the nation Serbs have always rightly considered brotherly - we should truly feel blessed and grateful and always support Israel in every possible way, since she is facing the exact same enemy Serbian people have throughout their history and are facing now too.
Posted by: Svetlana | February 10, 2007 04:38 PM