Farewell to departing Swiss Ambassador Jean Daniel Ruch

The Swiss Ambassador, H.E. Jean Daniel Ruch has completed five years of service in Israel and is taking up a new position in Turkey.

WASNS resident (and Swiss citizen) Evi Guggenheim Shbeta was present at a celebration in Jaffa of Switzerland’s national day on August 1 and afterwards wrote him a farewell letter thanking him for the many occasions in which he showed his friendship and support for our village. These included an occasion, at the beginning of his tour of service, in which he and the embassy decided to celebrate the same national holiday here in Wahat al-Salam - Neve Shalom. Friends of the village will remember his presence at an olive picking event during the annual general meeting for our friends associations, in 2017 (shown in the photo).

More recently, he showed his abiding support for the village after the arson attack upon the School for Peace. On another occasion, he even traveled to Aqaba to give a lecture on mediation to the participants in a School for Peace cross-border change agents course for Israelis and Palestinians.

Ambassador Jean Daniel Ruch has been a true friend and supporter of the village during his time here. We wish him well as he begins his tour of service in Ankara.