Boaz Moda'i
בועז מודעי
Israeli Ambassador to Slovakia
Assumed office
2019
Preceded byZvi Aviner Vapni
Israeli Ambassador to Ireland
In office
September 2010 – September 2015
Preceded byZion Evrony
Succeeded byZeev Boker
Personal details
SpouseNurit Tinari Modai
ProfessionDiplomat

Boaz Moda'i (also Boaz Modai, Hebrew: בועז מודעי) is an Israeli diplomat. He was Israel's ambassador to Ireland from 2010 to 2015.[1]

Biography

Boaz Moda'i is the son of Yitzhak Moda'i, an Israeli politician. His mother, Michal Har'el, was the second Miss Israel, crowned in 1951, later an honorary life president of the Women's International Zionist Organization.[2]

Diplomatic career

Modai joined Israel's foreign ministry in 1988. He has served in Israeli embassies in Guatemala, Honduras, Thailand, and London. He served as first counselor of Israel's Embassy to the Holy See.[3] In that role he acted as political co-ordinator for the visit of Pope John Paul II to Israel in 2000.[4] Before moving to Dublin, he spent six years in the Training Bureau of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem.[5][6]

After becoming ambassador to Ireland, he was joined in his work by his wife, Nurit Tinari-Modai (Nurit Tinari Modai), who as of February 2012 serves as Deputy Head of Mission.[7] [8] Under their leadership the Israeli Embassy in Dublin was criticized for diplomatic faux pas on social media accounts. They were accused of adopting a "provocative" approach to diplomacy that has been embarrassing to the embassy.[9]

The embassy won an award for its online hasbara from the Comper Center for the Study of Antisemitism and Racism at University of Haifa. On Dec 31, 2013, the university's website noted: "The annual appreciation for extraordinary hasbara activity was granted today … to Israel's ambassador to Ireland, Boaz Modai, and his deputy, Nurit Tinari-Modai, by the unique academic program 'Ambassadors Online,' which trains students for pro-Israel hasbara activity online." It lauded them for "activity in the struggle against those who promote the economic-cultural boycott of Israel and against anti-Semitic agents," and credited them with "exposing Israeli culture and the variety of Israel's tourist locations and technological achievements to the residents of Ireland."[10]

On 16 October 2019 Moda'i presented his credentials to president Zuzana Čaputová to become ambassador to Slovakia.[11]

Controversy

While he was Head of the Instruction Branch in the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Moda'i was investigated by police after a former employee complained of receiving harassing phone calls from an unidentified number. Police traced the phone number to Moda'i, who said the woman had spread rumors that he was having an affair. The Jerusalem police issued a restraining order and recommended that Moda'i be prosecuted.[12]

The Moda'i couple was accused of inappropriate social media postings.

  • "If Jesus and mother Mary were alive today, they would, as Jews without security, probably end up being lynched in Bethlehem by hostile Palestinians." Illustrated by an icon of Jesus of the Sacred Heart and Virgin Mary with the heart pierced by a sword. During Christmas season, on Embassy Facebook posting, 17 December 2012.[13] The Times of Israel reported that "some people demanded the ambassador in Dublin be fired," while the Foreign Ministry said it would conduct an internal investigation."[14]
  • A posting linked to an article stating "The UN has itself become a tool against Israel. Hitler couldn’t have been made happier." Embassy Facebook and Twitter posting, 6 August 2013.[15]
  • Mona Lisa wearing a hijab and holding a rocket, with the words "Israel now, Paris later," [16]
  • Palestinian flag with superimposed photo of Adolf Hitler and the text "Free Palestine – Now!" and message "Hamas take lead from Hitler".
  • - Israel's Channel 10 TV station published an email sent by Tinari Moda'i to senior Foreign Ministry officials suggesting that Israeli expats living in Ireland who were critical of Israel had psychological and sexual identity problems: "We can find names of [those] Israelis… we should hit their soft spot, publish their pictures, maybe it will embarrass their friends and relatives at home, and hopefully the local [Palestinian] activists will think that they work for the Mossad… The acts of these activists are, I think, not ideologically motivated, but rather have to do with psychological reasons (disappointment with their parents or problems with their sexual identity) or due to their need to receive a residence permit (refugee visa) in one of the European countries…"[13][17][18][19][20]

Modai complained to the Office of the Press Ombudsman against The Irish Times, claiming its coverage of Israel violated principles of press code of conduct.[21] [22] In one complaint, Modai asserted that an interview with Gideon Levy of Haaretz published by the Irish Times[23] did not question what he had said. Modai protested that the headline was "anti-Semitic and insulting to the State of Israel and its people."[24]

References

  1. ↑ "Ex-UN ambassador to become next Egypt envoy"http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/ex-un-ambassador-to-become-next-egypt-envoy-1.3640
  2. ↑ "Moda’i, World WIZO honorary president, dies at 81"http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Modai-World-WIZO-honorary-president-dies-at-81
  3. ↑ Palmieri-Billig, Lisa. "Vatican and Israel jointly seek pilgrims for Year 2000" (Sept 22, 1995) Jweekly
  4. ↑ "Ireland Stand up Updates". Archived from the original on 8 January 2015. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  5. ↑ "The ambassador". Archived from the original on 28 August 2014. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  6. ↑ Rosen, Robyn. "Irish government rejects Israel boycott" (June 24, 2010) The Jewish Chronicle
  7. ↑ "Why Mr Ambassador You're Spoiling Me" Jewish Chronicle, 1 March 2012
  8. ↑ Raphael Ahren, "Israeli Embassy's 'lynching Jesus' Facebook post sparks Irish ire" Times of Israel, December 17, 2012
  9. ↑ Robert Mackey, "Israeli Embassy Deletes 'Christmas Thought' Attacking Palestinians From Facebook" The New York Times, 17 Dec 2012
  10. ↑ University of Haifa, 31 Dec 2013
  11. ↑ "Vymenovania a odvolania" Office of the President
  12. ↑ Shoval, Lilach. "Foreign Ministry official admits to harassment: Official receives restraining order after discovery that he called an employee repeatedly at night and hung up" (March 28, 2007) YNET News
  13. 1 2 Barak Ravid (17 December 2012). "Israeli embassy in Ireland's latest Facebook post: If Jesus were alive, he'd be lynched by Palestinians". Haaretz. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  14. ↑ Israeli Embassy’s 'lynching Jesus' Facebook post sparks Irish ire The Times of Israel, 17 December 2012
  15. ↑ Jonny Silver (6 August 2013). "Israel's Ireland embassy: Hitler would have liked the UN". Haaretz. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  16. ↑ "Israel's Ireland embassy: France, don't say we didn't warn you". Haaretz. 14 January 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  17. ↑ "Deputy Ambassador in Ireland: the pro-Palestinian activists motivated by sexual identity problems". Nana 10. 12 June 2012. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  18. ↑ "Israel's Dublin embassy planned to smear Palestine activists as sexual deviants and Mossad agentsAli Abunimah". The Electronic Intifada. 12 June 2012. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  19. ↑ "Israeli Deputy Ambassador/Culture Officer in Dublin advocates intimidation and smearing human rights activists; suggests humiliating them by associating them with Mossad and 'sexual identity problems'". Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign. 13 June 2012. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  20. ↑ "'Pro-Palestinian activists have sexual identity problems'". +972 Magazine. Noam Sheizaf. 12 June 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  21. ↑ Press regulator rejects Israeli claims of bias The Sunday Times, 29 March 2015
  22. ↑ "His Excellency Boaz Modai, Ambassador of Israel, and The Irish Times". 15 March 2016. Archived from the original on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
  23. ↑ "Holocaust makes Israelis think international law doesn’t apply" The Irish Times, 11 September 2014
  24. ↑ His Excellency Boaz Modai, Ambassador of Israel, and The Irish Times Archived 2016-03-15 at the Wayback Machine The Press Council, 25 March 2015
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