‘October 7 changed everything,’ says outgoing Israeli diplomat

As Israeli Embassy chargée d’affaires Adi Cohen Hazanov flies home to Israel from South Africa this week, she leaves a changed person.

“It’s hard to think of life before October 7. It was like nothing mattered before then,” she told the SA Jewish Report just days before her three-year tenure ended. She arrived in South Africa three years ago in September 2022 as deputy ambassador to work with Israeli Ambassador Eli Belotsercovsky, who was then recalled to Israel in November 2023.

“I thought my time here would be challenging and different to what I experienced in Lithuania, but I had no idea how much,” she said of her previous assignment, where she was deputy head of the mission and consul in Vilnius. Cohen Hazanov said she loved working with Belotsercovsky. “He is the best diplomat I could work with. He is a real mensch. We worked well together, and we had brilliant projects and cultural events.” Despite being recalled, Belotsercovsky continued his role as ambassador to South Africa in Israel, while Cohen Hazanov held the fort from here.

Before 7 October, as she expected, relations were complicated in South Africa, and the embassy was doing whatever it could to put Israel’s side across. Fortunately, it had many wins, Cohen Hazanov said, but then came 7 October and, “besides the personal trauma that all of us experienced, it just changed everything”.

“Each of us had our own baggage, with friends on the frontline and their spouses alone at home; our families in safe rooms; and us being so far away from everyone we love. With all that, we moved into action. Nothing else mattered. We focused on supporting the efforts of our country, including doing all we could do to bring back the hostages.

“We talked to whoever we could, and with every door that was closed to us, we opened a window. And to every person who said they didn’t want to talk to us, I said, ‘Okay, so give me someone who does want to talk to us’,” she said.

When people came to her to ask the truth of what they were seeing and hearing in the media, she would do what she could to reflect what was happening in Israel to balance what was clearly an unbalanced story, she said.

Cohen Hazanov said she has worked closely with the South African Jewish community to fight the prevalent false narrative built on the question of Israel’s right to exist.

“It wasn’t an easy situation, and it’s not getting any easier, but for that reason, it’s so important for us to keep on doing what we are doing for and with our friends in South Africa.”

She admits that there have been many frustrations, not least of all trying to give journalists, politicians, and others the opportunity to see Israel for themselves and show them why it is doing what it is doing. However, because of the entrenched false narrative, those who are interested are prevented from being able to see for themselves, Cohen Hazanov said.

“The sad thing is that we know the huge potential for both countries in communicating and hearing each other,” she said. “On both sides, there are people who really believe that with better communication, there would be better co-operation.

“South Africa isn’t the first country to disagree with Israel on many things, but it’s the only country that won’t try to communicate and discuss these issues. We don’t have a problem with critical relationships, we have those with most of the Arab countries, but we work within this complex situation.”

She reiterates how South Africa, as the “rainbow nation”, is a perfect example of why communication is so important. “I believe there will come a time when we will have a mature conversation, however the claim of genocide at the ICJ (International Court of Justice) and comparing Israel to other dark regimes is unacceptable,” she said. “Those kinds of comparisons undermine the trauma both our nations have experienced, and it’s political abuse of the term ‘genocide’. We will not accept being accused of genocide or endure the blood libels that have been made on the backs of our soldiers.”

However, Cohen Hazanov still hopes there will be a chance to balance the story or have access to the policymakers and people who have the power to influence the situation so that they can understand Israel’s perspective.

After the ambassador was recalled, Cohen Hazanov said, the embassy didn’t stop working for a minute. “Our team here worked day and night with dedication to try and reflect the real situation and open up chances for conversation where we could. Fortunately, there were people willing to listen and understand. However, they weren’t necessarily able to do it in the open.”

She said her place had already been taken up by Ariel Seidman, who hit the ground running with a team that has the same values and commitment she does. “He is an excellent, experienced diplomat,” Cohen Hazanov said.

“The kind of person who sits in this chair needs to have a thick skin and lots of patience and willingness to work hard and learn a lot. The amount I learned here about Africa, the people of this country, and so much else has been a big silver lining for me,” she said.

“I loved my time here, and don’t really want to leave. This is my second home and the place my youngest was born. The Jewish community has been so good to me. They are like family. It seems when we were low on power, the community would have power to support us, and vice versa. It has been an incredible give-and-take relationship.”

Cohen Hazanov said that unlike most diplomats who have come from Israel, she hasn’t been able to travel for fun. “I must be the only one who hasn’t had time to do the Garden Route. I have just been so busy.”

So, going back to Israel, she’s looking forward to having time to “breathe and get my Israeli blood flowing again” before going to Jerusalem to support the jobs other diplomats are doing.

“I’ll miss the South African people so much. They are astonishingly kind, and giving, warm, patient, and full of respect and curiosity.

“I leave here with so many diplomatic lessons and new tools, and have learned how to be more creative in getting things done. My husband now needs his time to get back to business, and my parents won’t be keen for me to take their grandchildren away again,” she said. “But South Africa will stay in my heart always.”