George Deek discusses diversity in the Middle East

Actions of inciting hatred has been destroying the diversity of the Middle East, George Deek, a diplomat working for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the International Law department, said in a lecture on Monday.

Deek noted that such actions are keeping us from a home of ancient cultures and a place of diversity to a region of uniformity,a place where there’s no more room for people who are different,

“People are aligning along ethnic, tribal, religious lines, and the entire order of states is collapsing… And change of this magnitude often creates a lot of uncertainty, not knowing what’s going to happen next. And uncertainty is often translated into fear, and suspicion. And it doesn’t take much to use that fear that people have from change in order to incite hatred,” he said.

Deek noted that his message to University students was that all religious and ethnic groups should be able to live without fear in the Middle Eastern region and that nations, including Israel, should have the ability to establish peace and unity and to protect their inherent right to be different from the majority.

“[Israeli] is the only minority in the region — as a Jewish minority, as a Jewish country — that has both the role and the capability to protect our right to be different. Because our ability to be different, the diversity that characterized the Middle East for thousands of years is in jeopardy.”

“As long as Israel exists, hope exists for the Middle East that we can change course, and to become a more tolerant region,” he added.

Deek noted that a lot of people asks him why he’s doing what he’s doing, adding that his Christian and Palestinian background make others question his passion for working with Israel. To this, Deek explained that he is passionate not only about the narrative of Israel but also about minorities' rights to the dignity of being different and resisting assimilation to dominant cultures.

Deek explained that his personal life influenced him to pursue a career in diplomacy in the Middle East. In 1948, when Israel was established by the United Nations, Deek’s family was told to flee the country by Arab leaders, who told them that Israeli forces would kill them. Eventually, Deek's grandparents made the decision to return to home to Jaffa, Israel and build a family.

“The reason I’m standing in front of you today as an Israeli diplomat and not as a Palestinian refugee from Lebanon is precisely because my grandfather had the courage to make a decision that was unthinkable to others, including his own family. Rather than falling into despair, he found hope in the one place no one else dared looking for it. He chose to come back to Israel, live among those who were supposed to be his enemies, and made them his friends,” Deek explained.

In an interview with the Daily Princetonian before the lecture, Deek explained that his entrance into diplomacy was a coincidence. According to Deek, after working as a lawyer in Israel, he was inspired to become a diplomat after reading a newspaper advertisement for a diplomatic training course offered by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“There’s a saying in Chinese that goes, ‘When the student is ready, the teacher arrives.’ So I think I was ready, and we kind of found each other. And today I can’t imagine myself doing anything else,” he said.

Deek is currently on sabbatical as a Fulbright Scholar at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. He has been labeled byTablet Magazineas “Israel’s Best Diplomat.”

Get the best of ‘the Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

The lecture, titled "The Art of Middle East Diplomacy," was sponsored by the Whig-Cliosophic Society, took place in the Senate Chamber of Whig Hall on Monday at 4:30 p.m.