Ambassador Gideon Meir, who passed away on February 15, 2021, was one of the best diplomats I have ever known or worked with in my nearly four decades of diplomatic service. The way Gideon understood the nature of our discipline continues to set a high standard and embodies the essence of diplomacy in our modern global village.
Gideon was a rare breed: a mixture of the classical diplomat who uses personal contacts, activities, and charm as his primary tools, and the “modernizer,” an enthusiastic pioneer of modern digital diplomacy. Above all, he was full of compassion for others. Put simply, he was a good friend and a mensch. No one who encountered Gideon could remain indifferent or fail to notice him. Born in Jerusalem in 1947 (shortly before the establishment of the State of Israel) to a Yekke family from Fulda, Germany, he grew up as a sabra. Like that fruit, which has become a metaphor for the native-born Israeli—prickly on the outside but sweet on the inside—Gideon was known for his exterior roughness but inner sensitivity.
One of Gideon’s core strengths was his ability to identify up-and-coming political figures and build relationships with them, which often developed into genuine friendships. I will always remember a late Monday morning in the autumn of 1993. I had just started my posting as head of chancellery (number three in command) at the Israeli embassy in London. On that day, I accompanied Gideon to the Labour Party Conference. It would be the first of many party conferences in which I would participate over the course of my five-year tenure. I was very excited when we toured the Brighton Centre. The quiet and tranquil atmosphere before the start of the conference would provide a good opportunity for networking, Gideon said. We began our stroll and soon arrived at a coffee bar, where a handsome young man was stirring his coffee.
“Come,” Gideon said, “I would like to introduce you to someone who is important now, and who will be even more important in the future.” He then introduced me to Tony Blair, a “very good friend of ours who will be the prime minister one day.” Blair, then serving as Labour Shadow Home Secretary, was clearly embarrassed and managed to say something along the lines of, “Gideon might be your boss, but you don’t have to take everything my friend is telling you too seriously.” We chatted for few minutes and then wished one another well.
At that time, the Labour Party had a young and very promising leader, John Smith. A few months after the conversation at the coffee bar, Smith suffered a fatal heart attack. As a result, Blair won the leadership contest, and the rest, as Gideon predicted, was history.
The friendship between Gideon and Blair, as well as their spouses, continued, and also directly and indirectly served the interests of both Israel and the United Kingdom. In fact, his last farewell phone conversation was with Blair, who called the moment he heard about Gideon’s declining health. That was yet another example of the importance of Gideon’s personal touch in his interactions, even in the digital era.
Gideon demonstrated exemplary people skills and genuineness throughout his career and in his private life as well. During his six-year tenure as ambassador to Italy, he created and maintained close contacts with top Italian leaders from across the political spectrum. Prime Ministers Silvio Berlusconi and Romano Prodi as well as Italian President Giorgio Napolitano were regular visitors and participated in countless Sabbath evening dinners and other Jewish observances at the Israeli ambassador's residence. As someone who had the opportunity to attend such events, I can attest to the warm relationships Gideon developed with his guests.
Some of our colleagues at the ministry were skeptical when Gideon spoke about his close friendship with Blair (and other prominent figures). They were certain that he was exaggerating or grandstanding. I would like to think that all these doubts ended one day in late 1997 during a visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to 10 Downing Street.
After the meeting ended, Blair took leave of the guests. When my turn came, he asked me how Gideon and his wife, Amira, were doing and whether we were still in contact. Upon hearing that we were, he requested that I convey his and Cherry’s best regards to the couple, who had left London over two years earlier. A senior colleague in the Israeli Foreign Ministry who had previously doubted the friendship happened to be standing next to us and was clearly shocked. Blair must have noticed his expression of disbelief and asked my colleague whether he knew Amira. Upon seeing his nod, the prime minister said, “Amira is a remarkable woman, don’t you think?” My astonished colleague nodded again and later confessed to me that he had not taken Gideon’s claims seriously.
Although he generally adhered to the traditional modes of diplomatic conduct, Gideon also engaged in more modern forms of diplomacy. From the beginning of his time in the service, he identified the pivotal role of public diplomacy as a tool with which to transmit Israel’s positions and policies. His ability to create personal contacts helped him forge close and trusting relationships with leading figures in the global media. When the digital era burst into our lives, Gideon became the ministry's deputy director general responsible for public diplomacy. Soon enough, he was also charged with administering its digital diplomacy program and led these efforts during one of the most difficult periods in the history of modern Israel: the Second Intifada. After returning from Italy, Gideon was appointed first senior deputy director general, and his responsibilities included public diplomacy, but this time with a much wider scope, as he had envisaged several years earlier.
To be sure, the combination of old and new diplomatic methods was a winning one, and Gideon was a role model in this regard. He was as excited as a child with a new toy when he dealt with digital diplomacy. Not only did he use it as a valuable tool; he also studied it thoroughly in order to optimize its effects.
On July 24, 1994, both the Israeli ambassador to London, Moshe Raviv, and Gideon, who was minister (deputy chief of mission) at our embassy in London at the time, were in Israel, and I was the chargé d’affaires. Exactly at noon, a car bomb parked near the embassy exploded, doing considerable damage both to the embassy and to the neighboring buildings, including Kensington Palace. Though there were no fatalities among the embassy staff, an overwhelming sense of shock, fear, and stress pervaded. The ministry decided that the ambassador should return to London immediately. At the time, Gideon was in Israel bidding farewell to his mother, who was dying of cancer. When he heard about the terror attack, though he knew there were no fatalities, he decided to return to London to be with us.
I will never forget the look on Gideon’s face when he entered the heavily damaged embassy that evening and saw us. We were covered with soot and dirt, and some of us (myself included) were also covered with blood. He did not try to hide the tears running down his face as he started hugging us. This greatly surprised us as we were all used to his tough demeanor.
I asked Gideon why he had chosen to return, particularly when it meant that he might never see his mother again. His answer was that he had not been with us when we all faced such mortal danger, and he would never have forgiven himself had he not returned as soon as possible. Soon after, when the situation had calmed down, Gideon flew back to Israel and was at his mother’s bedside when she passed away peacefully.
That was the Gideon I knew, and whose friendship I cherished: the professional Israeli civil servant, loyal to his country; a master in creating personal and close relations in the world of politics, foreign affairs, and media; and an enthusiastic champion of modern diplomacy. Above all, Gideon was a compassionate, energetic, generous, and sensitive human being. He was always ready to help people in need; he fully embodied the proverb “A friend in need is a friend indeed.”
Ambassador Gideon Meir was a diplomat of and for the people. May he rest in peace