Ofir Akunis: Israel’s Consul General in New York- the right man, in the right job, at the right time

Exclusive interview by Henry J. Levy

Yitzhak Rabin, Abba Eban, Golda Meir, Bibi Netanyahu and Chaim Herzog. They were all important leaders who at one time served the State of Israel in New York in various positions. They are also the kind of statesmen that the current Consul General of Israel in New York, Ofir Akunis, hopes to emulate. 

New York provides the biggest platform in America for representatives of Israel to convey their country’s position on the issues of the day and to stand up for the Jewish people here and abroad. On Lincoln’s birthday, February 12^th, I had the privilege of interviewing the Consul General in his office in midtown Manhattan. Before I tell you what he said, you should know his background and what led him to accept his current position at the behest of Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Ofir, a sabra, was born in Tel Aviv on May 28, 1973. His grandfather was from Saloniki, Greece and his mother immigrated from Poland. He is married to Adi, Director of International Relations at ANU – Museum of the Jewish People, and the father of Yonaton and Roni. His early background was as a journalist serving as a correspondent during his military service. He was a spokesman for the Likud Party, the Minister of Justice and Minister of Finance, Deputy Media Advisor to Netanyahu, and Deputy Director of Communications and Information for Likud. Afterward he was elected to the Knesset and served for 15 years. He gained experience as Chair of the Economic Committee, was appointed Deputy Speaker of the House, Deputy Commissioner of Environmental Protection and Minister for Innovation, Science and Technology. Then it was the right time to utilize his extensive knowledge in so many fields and undertake his newest challenge for the State of Israel as Israel’s Consul General in New York (which also covers New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Ohio).

Ofir Akunis: I started on May 1^st. It was one of the darkest times in the Jewish community here, if not the darkest, because we saw the attacks on Jewish students and on the Jewish communities and by the way, the rise of antisemitism. That was on the one hand. On the other hand, the big lies, huge lies by our enemies. I’m not talking about wild protests here. I’m talking about the lies in all media, the new media. It is all combined. 

I’m here to protect and defend my country and my people and I think I am doing it at least 18 hours a day, if not more. This is a very important mission.

I’m very happy to see the unity among the Jewish communities. That was a surprise. A good one by the way to me. Usually among Jews there are differences.

I think two things happened. First of all, the horrific massacre on October 7^th and the events at the universities and institutes.  The second thing, I think there is a lot of support for the State of Israel among the American people. Maybe you cannot see it through some television stations, but if you are talking with the American people, you can feel it, and that is very good. But, we need it to be in bigger numbers.

Henry Levy: Unfortunately, that is not the sense that a lot of people get from the media that there is that type of support.

Akunis: I agree. I think if you ask the average American, not only on the coasts but other places in the middle of the country and other places, you will feel that we have support. I’m not talking about the majority of the Muslim community in Michigan or somewhere else. I think Americans know to see the difference between Israel and the axis of evil. If some television stations are not reflecting it, the people can mention it by themselves. Every day I have with the media and mass media interviews, and with you as well. Everywhere, every day, the national media in the United States, television, radio, the new media, the consulate media … this is my duty. 

Levy: On October 7^th there was widespread sympathy for Israel. Shortly thereafter the media and people forgot what happened and were just concerned with Israel’s response. Is Israel losing the PR war and how can that be reversed?

Akunis: I remember seeing a short clip of Golda Meir. They asked Golda when she came here for a visit, or it might have been in Jerusalem, about the Israeli PR, or Hasbara, and she said she preferred to get a new PR. It’s the same question like when they asked Golda Meir in the early 1970’s. I know the PR issue, the Hasbara, with us for a long time is no good. I think we must say the truth all the time … all the time … all the time. And stay on message. And the message is, and I am doing it these days, right after we saw the horrific pictures of the last three hostages, Hamas means Nazis.

We captured in their headquarters in Gaza, Mein Kampf. Hitler’s book. And we must say all the time, the Ayatollahs, Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis are the axis of evil, of course.    

But this is not an Israeli issue. It is an American issue. Because if there are people here in New York screaming, chanting, yelling, “Death to America”, it’s not an Israeli problem. They are chanting “Death to Israel”, of course, but I saw a few times they burned the American flag here in New York or in Washington. It’s an American problem. So, it is not about us, but it is a Western World problem like it was in the 1930’s. When Hitler declared that he wants to kill all the Jews, he did it. Not all of them, but six million. And when he said he wants to conquer Europe, he did it. All over, except for the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union in the east. But he did it. He conquered Europe, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, everything.

And we need to say this all the time and never apologize.

We must be very strong and solid against all their lies. They talked about genocide. They talked about starvation. There is no genocide in Gaza and you can see the hundreds of thousands of people that are going their way from the south, the safe area, to the north again. It’s part of the agreement, OK?

And the starvation? Every day you can see the markets in Gaza are full. Not only because of humanitarian aid, but because they rebuilt agriculture. We supplied them with water and electricity.  

I don’t remember in history that a country fighting for her existence, supplies water, electricity, and food to their enemy. And we are doing that, and we need to continue saying it.

Levy: But that message is not getting across.

Akunis: I am doing it. I am doing it every day. Every day.  

Levy: B’nai B’rith in Canada is very strong in responding to media bias in print and broadcast and immediately brings attention to these situations and calls for retractions to set the record straight and apologies from the media culprits. We don’t see that here.

Akunis: We are doing it. We are like the Sayret Matkal, an elite IDF special forces response team in Israel. We are a small unit, Benjamin, Ariella and myself and our team at the Consulate are doing it and we respond very fast. Every day we fight against the media. It’s like a huge wave, like a tsunami.

And, by the way, the Qatarians established a television station in the name of Al Jazeera and they are spreading the lies all over, Al Jazeera in English, Al Jazeera in Arabic, and they are everywhere. They also support the demonstrations on the campuses.

I don’t understand why nobody here in the United States declared them as foreign agents.

Levy: I think President Trump is the only one who recently brought up the issue that foreign protestors on college campuses would be sent home.

Akunis: We congratulate him. He decided that foreign students would be not be allowed to use their visa to support Hamas. We congratulate him, the new president, and we congratulate that he signed new sanctions on Iran.

Levy: Back to PR, shouldn’t Jewish organizations be doing more? Should there be a media alliance, a committee that only focuses on fighting media lies?

Akunis: As diplomas we cannot tell them what to do or how to respond but we think they are doing it. The ADL, AJC, UJA, JCRC, ZOA and others.  I think they did very well after October 7^th showing strong support for Israel and speaking with loud voices. There is also an organization, Honest Reporting, that fact checks everything and is very good.

Levy: How do you get American students and young people to better understand Jewish history?

Akunis: Let me tell you something. For the last 20-25 years we have lost a whole generation, in Israel as well. We need to change our idea, our method about history and knowledge. I don’t think the people, Americans, that are screaming here, “Intifada! Intifada!” know what intifada. The meaning is destroy and destruction and they don’t know that.

I said it as a Minister and I said it here, in the beginning, that we must actually return to the basic lessons of our roots, our Jewish roots. The history of the Jewish people goes long way back with the United States, from the end of the 18^th century and then with most people coming toward the end of the 19^th century.

We must promote change in the whole education system   . 

First of all, talk about the roots, the history, the past, and do this in the universities as well.

Tomorrow I will see Jonathan Holloway, President of Rutgers, in New Jersey. Then in two weeks I will meet the President of Columbia, speak with Boston University, The New School, and others. I will ask them to protect the Jewish students and Israeli students. I hope it will be better in the spring. It is impossible that Jewish students and Israeli students cannot be part of the student body and it is unacceptable to separate them at graduation ceremonies.

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