Tikvah
Editors’ Pick

June 3, 2026

The Proud Legacy of a Palestinian Who Decided to Cease Being a Refugee

The hand of God and Israel’s emissary to the Christians.

Recently the Israeli government appointed a diplomat named George Deek as its first ambassador to the Christian world. Rabbi Meir Soloveichik explains Deek’s remarkable family story, which begins with his namesake and grandfather—who fled his native Jaffa, along with his brothers, for Lebanon during the 1948 war. There they and their children experienced what the younger Deek describes as typical for Palestinians in Arab countries, who are “aggressively discriminated against, and in most cases denied citizenship and basic human rights.” Soloveichik adds:

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