Polyglotism in Israeli Government.

This Week, and just days before the celebration of the Rosh Hashana or Jewish New Year, former Israeli President and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shimon Peres has died. He was also known as one of the founding fathers of this Nation.

Many people remember him for his points of views, his participation in the Oslo Negotiation and the peace process, The fact that he is the only Israeli who has serve the country as President and Prime minister, and his work leading his foundation for peace.

Not many people are aware, that Peres was a true polyglot, according to some sources, Shimon Peres was able to speak Polish, Russian, Hebrew, English, French and Yiddish. Shimon Peres was an exceptional man and a unique leader, but reading a little bit about the life of other politicians in Israel, I found that being polyglot in this area seems to be more common than we believe. In fact, with all the things we can cheer or criticize about Israel, This country has one of the biggest numbers of polyglots holding official positions.

Israel has 2 official languages and they are Hebrew and Arabic. Hebrew is the most spoken language in this country. Arabic is basically used by the Arab Israelis and by some Mizrahi Jewish. In the last years, more Arab Israelis had access to higher education and fluency in Hebrew is now a common happening. English is the most used language as L2 in general. More than 1 million Israelis can speak Russian according to the source of immigration from ex soviet union provided by https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Immigration/immigration_by_country2.html . Statistics from the office http://www.cbs.gov.il/statistical show that among 49% of Israelis who are 20 years old or older have Hebrew as their mother tongue, 18% have Arabic and 15% have Russian as their mother tongue. Other languages including French, English and Yiddish have each 2%. Being Israel a nation where immigration is a key factor, It is common to have people using Hebrew as their everyday language, speak the language of their country of origin and try to learn English for Business purposes.

David Ben-Gurion, the primary founder of the State of Israel and the first Prime minister was also Polyglot. He could speak Yiddish, Hebrew, English, Russian, German and French. He learnt Turkish while studying in the University and in his final years he dedicated time to learn Spanish. Yitzhak Navon who was president of Israel between 1978 and 1983, could speak Hebrew, Arabic, Ladino, English and French. After leaving office, he dedicated to learn Spanish. Yitzhak Shamir, who was a very controversial Prime Minister, at least was able to debate his points of view in Hebrew, Yiddish, Polish, German, English and French.  Moshe Katzav, a controversial ex-President of Israel, can speak Farsi, Hebrew, English and Arabic. The rest of Presidents and Prime Ministers of Israel can speak in Hebrew and English. Reuben Rivlin, the current president can speak fluently Hebrew, Arabic and English. Details of the Curriculums of the politicians of Israel can be found in the web page http://main.knesset.gov.il/mk/all/Pages/default.aspx

If we talk about the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Avigdor Lieberman, a very controversial ex minister, is able to debate his ideas in Russian, Hebrew, Yiddish and Rumanian. His English however is not fluent.  Moshe Arens is able to speak in Hebrew, English, French and German. Silvan Shalom can speak Hebrew, Arabic, French and English. Shlomo Ben-Ami, who is also a diplomat, can speak English, Spanish, Hebrew and French. David Levi who also held this position, can speak Hebrew, French and Arabic. He was one of very few officers of foreign relations who do not have good skills in English.

Other Politicians include the Charismatic Yair Lapid, who is also a journalist and TV presenter is able to speak Hebrew, English and Spanish.  Daniel Hershkowitz who is also a Mathematician and a Rabbi, is able to speak English, Hebrew and Hungarian. Yuli-Yoel Edelstein, speaker of the Parliament, can speak Hebrew, Russian and English.

The existence of Polyglots is not limited to Jewish Population. Israeli Arabs with higher education have also tendency to polyglotism.  Most of the politicians from this community speak Arabic, Hebrew and English. Majalli Wahabi, a Druze Arab who assumed the position of acting president of Israel and the only non-Jew who acted as Israel’s Head of State, he can speak French beside the 3 languages mentioned. Another Druze Arab, Dr Abdallah Abu Ma’aruf  is fluent in Russian. But maybe, the champion in Polyglotism is the Druze Arab Israeli Mansur Reda, who has the honor of being the youngest Israeli to be appointed as Ambassador of Israel to a foreign country, he can speak Spanish and Portuguese beside Hebrew, Arabic and English.   

Speaking about Israel is not easy, and a lot of controversies exist. I am not an expert of Middle East and I know very little about the conflicts that exist in this part of the world. I can say that I really admire a society where education plays such a great roll in its development, and I consider Shimon Peres an outstanding leader. But my most important conclusion of this research is that regardless the problems existing in the relations between Israelis and their neighbors, the language barrier does not seem to be the problem in this context. It can be part of the solution when it will come!