Новый генеральный консул Израиля в Сан-Франциско намерен сделать акцент на технологическом сотрудничестве

Ron Gerstenfeld arrived in San Francisco in mid-August to take up one of the most closely watched postings in Israel’s diplomatic corps: consul general for a region that stretches across Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. He inherits a consulate that has spent nearly three years navigating the fallout of October 7 and the war in Gaza — and one set in a region known both for its diverse, fragmented Jewish community and for some of the country’s most vocal pro-Palestinian activism. Still shaking off the jet lag as he settled into his office at the consulate in San Francisco’s Financial District, Gerstenfeld didn’t appear overwhelmed with the heightened antisemitism, opposition to Israel or other troubles he might face in his role. He sounded upbeat. “America is exciting,” he said. “The tech scene, all the big American multinational [corporations], not only here in California, but in all my jurisdiction, which is wonderful. Just to see it with my own eyes, it’s like a kid in a toy store.” Gerstenfeld, 51, was born in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam. He is the eighth generation of his family in the country on his father’s side. “We are a family of rabbis from Jerusalem, Safed, Hebron, Tiberias, all the holy cities,” he said. His father was born on Kibbutz Merhavia in northern Israel, where Golda Meir lived when she first arrived in British Mandatory Palestine. His mother was born in Bulgaria and immigrated to Israel in 1949. Trained as a lawyer, accountant and diplomat, Gerstenfeld previously worked for the Israeli missions to Uruguay and Australia, and most recently at the Israel Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem. He and his wife, Yifat, have three children. The two eldest currently serve in the Israeli military. Gerstenfeld spoke with J. about his plan as consulate general for the Pacific Northwest to build bridges between American and Israeli societies, how he will approach tough conversations with Israel’s critics and what inspired him to come to the Bay Area. This interview has been edited for length and clarity J: What drew you to represent Israel in the United States at this moment? The support of the United States was always the most important thing for us. From a diplomatic perspective, this is the place to be. How worried are you about our region’s reputation for being a hotbed of staunch opposition to Israel? Did that issue factor into your decision to accept this post? I don’t look at it like this. California as a whole, and this region, is the most exciting place on the planet. This is where everything happens— mostly when we talk about what’s happening nowadays, the revolution of artificial intelligence, all the new technologies. On the other hand, I think the Jewish community and Israeli community here are very exciting. It’s very important to work with such diversity. I’ve been to other places, there’s not such a diversity. This is the place to be. Tell me about your past postings in Uruguay (2010-2015) and Australia (2018-2022). What stood out? [Uruguay] is one of the most European-descended and secular countries in Latin America, a very religious continent. [Uruguay is] very pro-civil rights, very pro all the things that perhaps now they will call progressive, very unusual for Latin America, but it gave us a good inspiration. [There is] a very strong and Zionist and vibrant Jewish community over there. When most diplomats send their children to American school or international school, we decided to keep them in Jewish kindergarten and school. It was a lovely, lovely Jewish experience that makes us be a lot more connected, I think, to the Jewish roots. The Australian government was very friendly to Israel, Australians themselves too. One of the most important pillars of our work over there was the collaboration with all the fields that you can imagine, from cybersecurity to defense to high tech to agriculture to climate. Even culture-wise, between national libraries, between universities. I think it was like the golden era of the relationship. What’s your approach going into your first few months in the new job? There’s a lot of work that’s been done in the consulate during the last year or so, bringing many delegations to Israel in a very harsh time. It’s very important. [But] one of the goals that I set for myself is that I want at least 80% of our work to be on collaboration, technology, culture, new endeavors, AI, health, whatever. We shouldn’t have to fight against antisemitism. We would be happy not to do so, but we have to. And all these [antisemitic] incidents and anti-Israel sentiment, if it will remain at 20% [of our work], I’ll be happy. If I can reduce it to 10%, even better. We are ready to talk to everyone that’s willing to listen and to dialogue, and we’re not disqualifying anything. It’s very important to say this is the house of Israel, we’re representing the state of Israel, and everyone that wants to get closer, to talk, to understand, we’re open to this. Your predecessor, Marco Sermoneta, had a rocky tenure. He regularly lambasted critics of Israel, especially the Jewish ones. You speak of being open to critics of Israel. What does that mean in practice? As long as it’s criticism, we accept criticism. We want to dialogue and try to change the mind and the vision of people, and this is the approach. We’re not judgmental…. Us, the Jewish people, we are too few in the world in order to be in this kind of conflict with each other all the time. I think we all should do a lot more in order to live in some sort of coexistence and compromise because we are too few. And we’re not getting larger, by the way…. They said that if the Holocaust didn’t happen we’d be between 60 million and 100 million. Imagine that. So let’s keep the 13, 14 million all together as much as possible. What kind of advice did your predecessors give you for navigating this region regarding either opportunities or challenges? I think that the most wise advice would be just to talk to people and listen to them. Don’t be judgmental. And yes, it’s a tough area in many senses, but enjoy the process and talk to people. And just try to understand the point of view of others as well. This sounds like a cliche, but this is the approach that I’m going to take. This is your first posting away from your two eldest sons, who are serving in the IDF. How are you handling that? I think they understand the importance of the task, and since they’re not at home anyway most of the time — we promised them that they can call in every hour, no matter the time gap of 10 hours. It’s difficult, but they can approach us anytime, anywhere. And now we have the technological means to do so, thanks to Silicon Valley and others. But it is difficult for us, mostly for my wife, because we’re very much connected with them. So we’ll see how it goes.