[00:00:00] I was Ambassador to Cyprus. The country was striving. No rain for a few years. They didn't have water to drink. Israel came with innovation, purifying water, and we saved the life of Cypriot. We do that for making the world better.
[00:00:17] The world has a blind spot for Israel. The media screams conflict and they ignore incredible Israeli contribution like 3D printed corneas to end blindness or lab grown spinal cords to help paralyzed patients walk again or why the CEO of NVIDIA calls Israel its second home.
[00:00:45] Israel is not trying to be perfect. It's trying to survive while helping the world live better. I'm Jennifer Weissmann and this is the Israeli Trailblazers Show. Today we are speaking with the former ambassador to Israel, Shemitzur, on why the world is blind to Israeli contributions, what he thinks we can do about it, and insight into his new and amazing book that you can buy on Amazon.
[00:01:13] Welcome, Ambassador Sur. You have seen so many changes over the years as an Israeli diplomat. As ambassador, I served in Uzbekistan, in Cyprus, in Finland and Estonia. I was Consul General in Sydney. I was ambassador to New Zealand, also accredited to some Pacific Island, Samoa, Tonga, Cook Island. And my last boss was Turkmenistan. What were you trying to do as an ambassador?
[00:01:42] To build up those relations of friendship, to tell them the story of Israel, small nation that's really surviving. We survived. Still, we produce. Still, we're building new things that create and initiatives in fields of medication, water. You know, I was ambassador to Cyprus. The country was thriving. No rain for a few years. They didn't have water to drink.
[00:02:11] Israel came with innovation, purifying water. And we saved the life of Cypriot. Do that in many countries. Some countries, believe it or not, do not have diplomatic relations with Israel. We do that for making the world better. Many countries from the Pacific suffer from diabetes because they changed the diet. So, for us, it was easy to send to each and every country insulin injection.
[00:02:41] What did Israel do to help Uzbekistan? The beautiful fruit in Uzbekistan. Apples and all sorts of... I didn't know that. However, they do not have the way to collect it. We brought people from agriculture to run a course of how to preserve this fruit. You can take it from the trees and to keep it. And then we found some ways to build those cool houses that you can preserve it and you can export it.
[00:03:12] What did you do in Finland to help the people in Finland? Finland is a very advanced country. But what we do with them is cooperation on the issues of high tech. Any sort of communication, all of them has an Israeli input. You're talking about decades of Israeli contribution, tech sharing, intelligence sharing.
[00:03:36] Do you find it interesting that the invisible, helpful hand of Israel is lost on the media today in 2026? We have a problem with that. We highlight in the media is the conflict. Israel's out there creating tech, creating innovation. And yet it appears that Israel is a pariah in the world. We had hoped that the Abraham Accords would spread to many other countries.
[00:04:04] And I hope it will come for the benefit of both countries and the whole region. Saudi Arabia is highly respected, highly motivated. And things are changing there. And it's a country we start keeping Western values. And cooperation with Saudi Arabia will benefit not only Israel and Saudi Arabia, but the whole Middle East. Were you surprised to see the world's top universities like Harvard and Yale and obviously Oxford
[00:04:34] and raging against Israel after October 7th? Very much. We couldn't believe it. We really couldn't believe it. These top universities of the world, they're preparing the future leadership of the world. Such misunderstanding of what's happening. What is motivating them. Enjoying the show?
[00:04:58] Please take five seconds and tap a five-star review wherever you're listening to this show. It helps more people find this podcast and grow the Israeli trailblazers community. I want to talk for a minute about how we combat the rising tide of anti-Semitism. What can we do? We have, in terms of tech, we have Wix. We have Monday.com.
[00:05:27] The number of innovators and even unicorns coming from Israel. You can't even keep track of all of them. And yet anti-Semitism keeps rising. So what can we do about it? Education, education, education. One of the main things is to tell the story, to educate the people about the way of looking at things and learning a little bit of history from world leadership, especially those democratic countries.
[00:05:55] Today is Israelis. Tomorrow can be in your country. This is catching. This is catching and you have to be very careful. The media should also take part in it. Why did you write this book? This book is called An Explorer from Childhood in a Transit Camp to the Peaks of Diplomacy. What message do you hope the biography spreads? There are two messages. One is, like America, we are a country of immigrants.
[00:06:25] When you come as an immigrant to a new country, it's very, very hard. Especially Israel. Especially Israel. When waves of immigrants came to poor Israel in the 50s, when Israel got an independence. 500,000 have to absorb almost 2 million. It's a country without any natural resources. We do not have gold and oil. Now we found gas, finally. The only thing is mine. Like, we share knowledge.
[00:06:53] And we have shared it with sympathy and with good, with honesty to help. One of the messages was with determination. Perseverance. Because you can change things. This is the way to build a world that will be a better world than we live. What's the second message of your book? The second message is really to my family, to my children, my grandchildren, which I love so much. To know how things have started.
[00:07:23] To know that Israel and the Jewish nation, my parents, where they come from, they come from community that has been there thousands of years. Yeah. The survivors of that Babylonian exile. I'm talking about 586 BCE. And they kept Judaism. They kept the bonds from that land. A person without Ruth. It's a tree like without Ruth.
[00:07:51] They have to know where you came from. If you know where you come from, you build on it. It's a strong base. I love it. We should be so proud of what we built. That's Israel from scratch, from all those who came after the Holocaust, or those families who came from Iran or Iraq. The neighbors were not any longer kind to the Jews. And they came with nothing to that land.
[00:08:20] Worked day and night to build it. And it's flourishing now. It's contributing to the world. And managed, thank God, to survive. But unfortunately, in a region that still do not accept Israel. It will come. It will come. I believe that we work for it. Peace would come soon to Israel and all that region. Amen. Ambassador Suhr, I want to thank you for coming to visit the Israeli Trailblazers show.
[00:08:50] I hope that the media will eventually fix their blind spot with Israel. But in the meantime, all of the listeners and watchers, they can help change the blind spot. They can come and visit Israel for themselves or be open-minded. Share this episode. Subscribe for more. Because someone who actually knows what Israel contributes will make a difference. Israel doesn't need more noise. It needs more truth speakers in the world.
[00:09:19] I'm Jennifer Weissman. And this is the Israeli Trailblazers show. Until next time, see what others miss in Israel and tune in for the next episode.