(INTERVIEW) THE MOST FAMOUS ISRAELI DIPLOMAT ZVI - RAV FOR TELEGRAF: This is why Serbia should enter EU! (PHOTO)

In the exclusive interview for the Telegraf, deputy general director of the department for Euro Asia and Balkans in the ministry for foreign affairs of Israel, Zvi Rav - Ner talks about gay parade in Tel Aviv, anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, but also about should Serbia enter EU, who did Israel become one of the most stable outcries in the Middle East

Can you imagine yourself with some politician having lunch in the canteen with no labels and with no problems? Whatever the answer to that question may be, that wont affect in any way the fact that it succeeded for us during our stay in Tel Aviv (where we documented the greatest gay parade in the Middle east) to have lunch with one of the most influential Israeli diplomats - Zvi Rav - Nev, deputy general director of the department for Euro Asia and Balkans in the ministry for foreign affairs of Israel.

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Our first encounter seemed like we have known each other - since forever! Quite straightforward, Zvi was open for talk in a second without any political conditioning which are used to with other politicians and diplomats.

We ask him if he knows that Israel lost a football game against Serbia recently. With a smile he said he knows, but the duel, he did not get the time to watch it unfortunately. We continue the story with Europe themes, which impose quite naturally considering that Zvi came back from Warsaw a year and a half ago where he was an ambassador for a long time. 

You were actually born in Poland. You live in Israel since you were six, and you never imagined you would be back in your birthplace 50 years later - as an ambassador. Do you consider Poland as your second home after all? 

- I have special feelings for Poland of course, but you have to know that many different people with different origins live in Israel. You have Jews from China, Ethiopia, Russia, Vietnam, Poland, Germany... Israelis are actually similar to Americans. Just like in the States, we are sort of a "melting pot" - the mix of the most different cultures and traditions.

When you mention diversity, it would be nice if we talked about the gay parade that we are actually here for. How did you manage to create the parade without any incidents, in a pretty rough environment, in the greatest harmony, where 200.000 attended?! 

- You must have heard about the tragic incident that happened last year in the gay parade in Jerusalem...

Yes, a young man stabbed to death a female participant of the parade... it was a very young girl, teenager? 

- Exactly! We were all horrified! On the other side, even in the controversial community like Jerusalem, the gay parade was held. Tel Aviv is a a completely different story. It is considered to be an open and, liberal and tolerant city. 40 years ago, things did not seem like this, but times change. In the government today, even in the most controversial parties we have politicians who declared themselves as homosexuals. Israel has a democratic, liberal society, and the only one in the Middle east, that kind of things were natural cause of events.

Precisely because of that kind of thinking, you created one of the most influential countries in the world in a short time. 

- We accomplished everything but the peace in the region. Balkan faces similar problems. It is hard to live with wars in Syria, Iraq, Libya... Israel is the only politically stable democratic country in the Middle east with incredible birth rate, of which we are especially proud of.

Yes, while Serbia is loosing it's battle with "white plague", families in Israel have on average 3 children? 

- Birth rate in Israel is much higher than in Europe or in USA. Families of Orthodox Jews have in average 6 children, while, despite widespread belief, the birthrate in Arab families has dropped significantly. This trend arrived with the emancipation of women and their turn towards carrier.

- Is the increased birth rate to blame for for the rise of the new modern skyscrapers because of which Tel Aviv looks much like New York lately? 

- That's right. The population is growing, the prices are rising, just like the land value. Hence the skyscrapers are the best solution. The changes in this field are really a challenge for the government, because it is the hardest for young couples  to buy their own first property.

Taking in consideration that you work in the department that is, among other things, in charge for Balkans, even tho Israel is not even a candidate for EU, do you think that its good for Serbia to join EU?

- Europe is not far from Israel. In the legal, market, economic, educational way, Israel is very connected to Europe, no matter if we are a candidate or no. Of course, i am familiar with various trends in Europe on that matter, and the fact that Great Britain is yet to consider their membership in the upcoming referendum. My personal opinion is that European union is a good club! As a long term, now former ambassador of Israel in Poland, i have seen how much good that country received since it joined EU. Therefore, i would advice you and your Balkan neighbors to enter the unity. If anything, the borders will be gone and the old conflict with Balkan countries will be gone.

You mention conflicts... We were in Jad Vashem an hour ago, memorial center for Jew victims of the holocaust. It is sad, however, that antisemitism is not the thing of the ancient past... 

- Small number of people is aware of that. It is true, nothing can compare with the horrors of the Holocaust... There is not a single Jew that hasn't lost someone in the Holocaust....

You are probably thinking about your father now...

- Of course! My father had three sisters that died together with their families. My uncle, for example, managed to escape from the occupied Poland into Russia, but his wife and both daughters died. After the WWII he remarried and got children, but he never told them he had two daughters, he considered it would be too painful for them to know. Every Jewish family had some tragedy... That's why many go to those places, like Auschwitz, in order for the crime to never be forgotten.

When it comes to Auschwitz,.. In Jad Vashem i had noticed the inscription "Why was Auschwitz never bombed"?

- It is a pretty complicated question on which is hard to give answer to! Just as hard it was for Germany to create the most evil planed genocide ever!

Let us return to, as you say, the more transparent antisemitism? 

- Current criticism of Zionism in some parts of the world is nothing more than covert antisemitism. In there is, of course, terrorism, and it is well known that extremists do not threaten only Jews, but also Christians, and to the Muslims that do not "follow" them.

Do you think the ultimate goal for ISIS is not - Israel? 

- I think that Israel is not on their list of priorities.

As a nation with refuges past, do you have understanding towards people from Syria or you see the migrant crisis only as the redrawing of the current map of Europe?

- Israel is currently an oasis of peace in Middle east and the migrant crisis does not affect us in the same way as it does Europe. As the nation with migrant past we do feel compassion with the Syrians, but, on the other side, you never know which one of them could be a threat to Israel. Ill tell you a story... Last year, there were serious riots after the intake of great number of migrants in Hungary. Precisely in that time i talked to the local Jew community asking among other stuff about the if they thought that migrants represent a potential danger for Jews in Europe and they immediately responded : "Time will tell if they are dangerous or not, as soon as they arrived, we rushed to help them. Their tragedy reminded us of our past".

(Telegraf.co.uk)