I would like to introduce myself, my name is Alaa’ Al Shimmari, from a mixed background, a British, Iraqi Arab, married to an Emirati, living in Dubai United Arab Emirates for over a decade now. I would like to tell you my story and the journey I had working with the Ministry of foreign affairs of Israel, and the Israeli pavilion at Expo2020. First of all, I would like to say it was the best 6 months of my life working at the pavilion, and I wish the Expo 2020 was longer than 6 months. This was not my first time working or associating with Jewish people I grew up in the UK, London and I studied Law at university, and I had many friends at university, and within my community, as a plus, my mother whose heritage and history comes from Iraq, she would always tell us stories as children about when they were she was young and living in Iraq and her parent’s friends and Neighbors were Iraqi Jewish and they would always exchange food for the holidays, and about the cultures from there. Therefore, when I applied for the job and the possibility for me to work with Israelis, I jumped at the chance. I was there representing not only the Pavilion I was the only one representing this amazing county of UAE Dubai and the amazing opportunity Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan – President of the United Arab Emirates has given the first Muslim Arab country in the middle east to Host the world EXPO 2020 and to host Israel as one of the 192 Countries exhibiting and for me to be a part of this history is one of the best experiences and opportunity I have done and can’t wait for where this next journey will take me.
When working and learned from such amazing people day in and day out, both in the pavilion and from Israel, and the delegations, that came to visit our Pavilion, both Israeli and non-Israeli. the warmth of working with a family is how I felt. Worked with such a great team who managed the pavilion, AVS who created the Pavilion, the amazing Architect who designed the pavilion, the PR team, and of course the security all the way to the commissioner General of the pavilion.
I have to say I have learned several amazing things working so closely with the team and learning how close the GCC and Muslim culture is to the Israeli, and Jewish culture, like language and food, and many more.
I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to travel and explore Israel this year in May 2022, It was definitely a huge experience to visit Israel for the first time, but the magic was awaiting me when traveling to this land. I found the society of Israel and its characteristics very exciting and young, especially in Tel-Aviv, it has various historical melting pots, in terms of ethnicity, and culture, which makes it very fascinating for one to explore more and more.
I have to say me and my husband enjoyed our stay and exploring in Israel visiting all the amazing historical places from Tel-Aviv, learning about all the great talents and starts ups, we visited the Peres Center for Peace & Innovation, the holy land of Jerusalem, and visiting many historic places, such as the Temple Mount, the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and A l Aqsa Mosque. The amazing people on the streets, I have to say being a big foody, I really enjoyed the food is so fresh and it tastes amazing. Can’t wait to visit again. I was welcomed with open arms, from strangers to amazing friends, who are more like a family to me than I have ganged over time.
Someone who always loved history and geography at school, visiting Israel and seeing all the diverse cultural differences in Israel, and how they are supported first and foremost in the heritage and time-old traditions and culture of the Jewish people. With all the heritage from both Arabs and Israelis, both cultures come to their rich heritage, preferring to focus on the “Secular Modern Israeli” aspect of their cultural norms. One thing I noticed working and mixing with Israel’s is their beautiful langue, and ancient and modern, young and old, cutting edge and rock solid tradition mixed in with the energy of growth, creation, and improvisation. And how everyone is willing to talk to each other and learn from each other the heritage and culture from all around the world whose families traveled to Israel as we know it now, from Europe, from Poland, Russia, to the Arabs from Iraq, Yemen and many more and this is shown in the street food that has passed down from generations.
