Arthur Lenk
Ambassador of Israel
Arthur Lenk began his assignment as Ambassador of Israel to South Africa, Lesotho, Mauritius and Swaziland in August 2013. He often appears in the media in South Africa emphasizing shared interests between the two countries especially regarding Israeli experience in food security, water management and innovation. He has learned that both Israel and South Africa were born in the wake of great tragedy and offer unique challenges and inspiration for their citizens and for so many people who closely follow our countries from around the world. He is active on Facebook and Twitter and lectures regularly across southern Africa. Previously he served as the Director of the Department of International Law at Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was responsible for providing legal advice to the Ministry's International Organizations and Policy Planning Divisions, on multilateral and regional issues ranging from human rights and UN affairs to bilateral and security matters. He also coordinated the Ministry's activities on international criminal law matters and has played an active role in representing Israel before international organizations such as the UN Human Rights Council. He also worked as a staff member on the UN Secretary General's Panel of Inquiry on the 31 May 2010 Flotilla Incident. From 2005 - 2009, Mr. Lenk served as Israel's Ambassador to Azerbaijan. During that period, political, strategic and economic relations between the two countries grew dramatically including growth of Israeli exports from $5 million in 2005 to $264 million in 2009. Israel massively increased its oil import from Caspian Sea to Israel. He has also served in diplomatic postings in New Delhi, India and Los Angeles. Mr. Lenk was born in the United States (New Jersey) and emigrated to Israel in 1983. He studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (LL.B. and LL.M. degrees) and has been a member of the bar in Israel and New York. He is married to Ruth and they have three daughters.
Mr Arthur Lenk, what is your greatest responsibility as Israel’s ambassador to South Africa?
I am the face and voice of Israel in South Africa. It is my responsibility, and great honour, together with my outstanding colleagues at the Israel in South Africa team to share Israel’s story, its achievements, aspirations and challenges to a variety of audiences in South Africa. Many South Africans of all backgrounds have a great interest and affinity with Israel and the Holy Land or follow it closely in the international news. And others might not even be able to find my tiny country on a map but could be inspired and positively impacted by our successes and opportunities.
So we are telling Israel’s story:
- in culture (Israeli musicians performed at Joy of Jazz and Oppikoppi in 2015), - in innovation (we cosponsored a contest for SA’s best start-up with Microsoft and the City of Tel Aviv and will do so again in 2016) - about the horrors of genocide (we recently brought the Chief Historian of Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial to SA to lecture here) - and chat nearly every day on Facebook and Twitter with just about anyone who wants to interact with me, Israel and our Embassy.
Mr Lenk, can you describe your role as an ambassador towards your Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu?
On the one hand, I represent Prime Minister Netanyahu and our government in its interactions here. I share views and interests of our government with senior officials in four countries in southern Africa. On the other hand, I don’t only represent the government but serve all eight million citizens of Israel. They are the people who pay my salary to work as a civil servant and to promote our interests in a wide variety of spheres in South Africa.
Mr Ambassador, what are some of your longer-term objectives?