Grapevine, December 26, 2025: In his father’s footsteps

In January 2023, Herzog was the guest of honor at a huge reunion of alumni and former teachers of Melbourne, Australia’s Mount Scopus College, who now live in Israel.

The event was also attended by members of the Scopus Foundation, mostly alumni, 300 students, and college staff, who at the time were all resident in Melbourne.

Given that Australia has a Governor-General, whose role is more or less equivalent to Herzog’s, it is somewhat unusual that Albanese, rather than the Governor-General, issued the invitation. However, given the strained relations between Albanese and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it is understandable that the invitation was extended to Herzog rather than to Netanyahu.

In fact, Albanese’s call was one of advance notice. A formal invitation will be issued in accordance with protocol by Governor-General Sam Mostyn, who, despite her name, is female.

Herzog receives many invitations for state visits, and usually says to whoever conveys an invitation orally that he would love to go to that person’s country. But there are many times that it’s not much more than lip service.

However, this time, given the circumstances that led to the invitation, Herzog may make the long trip. His father, President Chaim Herzog, who was Israel’s sixth president, visited Australia in November 1986. At that time, Israel received considerable bipartisan support from the Federal Parliament.

Chaim Herzog was the first Israeli head of state to visit Australia. In those days, travel was more difficult than it is today, and Herzog was abroad for three weeks, visiting Hong Kong, Singapore, Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand, Australia, and Kenya before returning home.

He even paid a secret visit to the Chinese mainland, which subsequently proved to be a contributing factor to the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and China.

In his conversation with President Isaac Herzog, Albanese expressed his profound shock and dismay over the terror attack against the Australian Jewish community in Sydney.

Herzog did likewise and underscored the importance of taking all legal measures to combat the unprecedented rise in antisemitism, extremism, and jihadist terror. He also told Albanese that he had received an official invitation from Australian Zionist Federation President Jeremy Leibler, and that he intended to take it up.

Perhaps as a goodwill gesture, Australia will inaugurate direct flights between its state capitals and Ben Gurion International Airport.

Flights between Australia and other Middle East destinations have been operating for decades, but what prevented similar arrangements with Israel was the fact that there are armed guards aboard Israeli planes, and Australia will not allow armed foreigners on Australian soil. Perhaps a solution can be found in the interim. Meanwhile, travellers between Israel and Australia usually use one of three connection options: one via Dubai, one via Hong Kong and one via Thailand.

Herzog loves to travel and is a frequent flyer. Since taking office in July, 2021, he has been to Ukraine, UK, UAE, US, Germany, Switzerland, Turkey, Greece, Jordan, the Czech Republic, France, Cyprus, Egypt, Belgium, Poland, Azerbaijan, Slovakia, Austria, the Netherlands, Rwanda, the Vatican, France, Serbia, Albania, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He has been to several countries more than once and to some as many as three or four times, but none as far away geographically as Australia

On the same day that President Herzog was invited to visit Australia, the iconic Nordoy Hotel in Tel Aviv’s Nachlat Binyamin Street, conveniently close to Carmel Market on one side, and Bialik Street on the other, and also fairly close to the beach, celebrated the 100th anniversary of its opening.

The hotel, which is part of the Fattal Colors group, was purchased for NIS 56 million by David Fattal, who invested an additional NIS 10 million in renovations, and reopened it for business this week in conjunction with the affixing of the Mezuzah by former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau.

Fattal’s sons, Assaf and Nadav, are co-CEOs of the Fattal Hotel chain and were, of course, present at the festive Mezuzah affixing ceremony. The Fattal group operates more than 300 hotels in 21 countries.

One of his recent overseas acquisitions is in Greece, where Fattal plans to have 15 hotels. One of the hotels that he recently revamped is the NYX hotel in Thessaloniki, where Genesis Prize laureate and Pfizer chairman and CEO Albert Burla was born and raised.

Burla donated his prize money toward the establishment of a Jewish museum to commemorate the once glorious Jewish community of Thessaloniki, which was decimated during the Holocaust. The Holocaust survivor parents of singer Yehuda Poliker passed on their love of Greek music to him, and he had a highly successful concert tour in Thessaloniki in November.

Poliker celebrated his 75th birthday this week on December 25, and will be heard today, Friday, on radio Reshet Bet between 4-6 pm.

Yehoram Gaon, who has been a singing star somewhat longer, will celebrate his 86th birthday on December 28.

The late Yaffa Yarkoni, one of Israel's leading singers, who died in January 2012, a week and a day after her 87th birthday, would have celebrated her 100th birthday on December 24.

Aura Herzog, the president's late mother, was born on December 24, a year before Yarkoni, and died in January 2022.

It has been previously mentioned in Grapevine that German dignitaries who visit Israel stay in hotels in the Dan chain.

The most recent such visitor, early this month, was Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who stayed at the Dan chain’s flagship hotel - the King David in Jerusalem, where he was welcomed by the General Manager Matan Lerner.

Over the past few months, more than half a dozen high-ranking German officials have visited Israel.

What a pity that lie detector tests are inadmissible evidence in court. Otherwise, a lot of money, time, and effort could be saved, and there would be far less speculation based on bombshells such as those delivered this week by Eli Feldstein, the former spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, could be avoided.

No one other than Feldstein himself knows how much truth there is in Feldstein’s alleged revelations about the prime minister’s attitude and conduct, but based on interviews Feldstein has given on KAN 11, former prime minister Naftali Bennett has accused Netanyahu of treason, and former chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot has demanded that Netanyahu be investigated by police. As yet, there is no proof, and besmirching Netanyahu’s name in such a manner is a malicious act of political rivalry.

It should be remembered that even though more than half a century has passed since Netanyahu and Ehud Barak foiled a terrorist hijacking at what was then Lod Airport.

Netanyahu is one of Israel’s national heroes. Some of his actions since then leave a lot to be desired, but it is hard to imagine that the man who risked his life to save a planeload of passengers is a traitor to his country.

On the other hand, warnings against the gradual stamping out of Israel’s democratic system are becoming a reality with the announced pulling of the plug on Army Radio, the unfair competition against blue and white approved on imported goods and products, and the cancellation of government funding for various cultural enterprises and organizations.

One would expect Cultural and Sport Minister Miki Zohar to be supportive of Israel’s film industry, but instead, he is reducing its effectiveness, simply because he disagrees with a film that is sympathetic to a Palestinian father and son.

Contrary to popular belief, not all Palestinians are terrorists, or even anti-Israel. And contrary to a saying attributed to Golda Meir, they do love their children.

If anything can reduce anti-Israel feeling in the world, it emanates from Israel’s film industry, which releases many productions that help to foster understanding of Israelis and also show that politics aside, there is a lot of positive interaction between Israel’s Jewish and Palestinian populations.

By cancelling funding, Zohar is responsible for fewer films being made in Israel, and for more positive reactions to Israeli creativity from abroad. This is a tragedy in itself, but more so in an election year, when there is no guarantee that the present destructive ministerial forces will return to office.

On the other hand, warnings about the erosion of Israel’s democracy are becoming a reality with the announced pulling of the plug on Army Radio, the unfair competition against blue and white approved on imported goods and products, and the cancellation of government funding for various cultural enterprises and organizations.

Cultural and Sport Minister Miki Zohar has taken steps affecting Israel’s film industry following his objection to a film portraying a Palestinian father and son in a sympathetic manner.

If anything can reduce anti-Israel feeling in the world, it emanates from Israel’s film industry, which releases many productions that help to foster understanding of Israelis and also show that there is a lot of positive interaction between Israel’s Jewish and Palestinian populations.

By canceling funding, fewer films are being made in Israel, and for more positive reactions to Israeli creativity from abroad. This is a tragedy in itself, but more so in an election year, when there is no guarantee that the present destructive ministerial forces will return to office.

Kudos to Netvision Following an item in Grapevine last week about a protest against Farha, an allegedly antisemitism movie. Erez Bank, the Netflix spokesman in Israel, advises that this film has been discontinued and will no longer be screened.

Social Entrepreneur, martial arts champion, and philanthropist Danny Hakim was born in Sydney, Australia, and paid his first visit to Bondi Beach before he was old enough to walk.

This coming Saturday evening, Hakim, who has been living in Israel for a quarter of a century, will host an evening of solidarity, unity, and resilience with the Sydney Jewish community at Kehillat Shivtei Israel Synagogue, 17 Har Sinai Street, Raanana, at 8.15 pm.

Speakers will include Australian Charge d’Affaires Lyndall Sachs, who is a former ambassador to Iran, Rabbi Benji Levy, and members of the Sydney Jewish community.

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