Diplomatic Events

 Embassy of Austria Celebrates National Day by Donating to Israelis in Need

Given the health, travel and safety restrictions facing citizens in Israel, diplomatic events have also had to innovate. At the same time, many are suffering economically, especially the elderly and sick, for whom traveling outside their homes is particularly risky. The Embassy of Austria celebrated Austrian National Day on Monday, October 26, and to mark the occasion it addressed both needs. Rather than hold a virtual event, the embassy marked the national day by sending gift packages to Holocaust survivors and other Israelis in need. 

Friends of the embassy received messages telling them that food package had been sponsored in their honor. The packages contained food provisions for a month. They were distributed by LATET, an Israeli non-governmental aid organization that is the largest NGO addressing poverty and food insecurity in Israel. As its website declares, LATET was established in order to reduce poverty, for a better and just society, by providing assistance to needy populations, mobilizing Israeli civil society towards mutual responsibility, and leading change in the national priorities.

The decision to sponsor the food packages, transforming a disappointing situation into an opportunity to help others, was the initiative of the Ambassador of Austria to Israel, Dr. Hannah Liko. Having been in Israel less than a year, the ambassador has wasted no time in taking creative steps to strengthen ties between Austria and Israel despite these challenging circumstances. The Austrian Embassy explained to Diplomacy that Ambassador Liko wanted “to express her bond with the Israeli society, whose guest she is and to support, in these times, those parts of society most heavily affected,” and moreover, that “the Ambassador and the Austrian Embassy as a whole were delighted by the positive responses.”