Ambassador Pninat Yanay

[Ambassador Pninat Yanay @Amb_PninatYanay]

Yesterday, I had the honor of attending the inauguration of Athens #LifeTech Park — an impressive new center dedicated to medical research, innovation, and the development of the medicines of the future.

During my visit, I met with @PrimeministerGR @kmitsotakis , as well as with ministers and senior officials. The Prime Minister declared that “Greece’s future is already here,” and spoke about the country’s investment in the pharmaceutical industry, research, and innovation — not only as engines for growth and improved quality of life, but also as a means of bringing talented Greek scientists and professionals back home.

This magnificent, state-of-the-art complex embodies vision, ambition, and Greece’s determination to become a major hub for medical research and international innovation.

I was deeply moved to witness Greece’s remarkable progress and its investment in the future. Coming from Israel — a country where innovation, research, and entrepreneurship are deeply embedded in our national identity — I see this field as particularly fertile ground for further strengthening cooperation between our two countries.

When science, vision, and investment come together, the future is indeed already here.

@AdonisGeorgiadi
@sofiazacharaki
@mthemisto

https://t.co/bfMzh80Vzc

[Ambassador Pninat Yanay @Amb_PninatYanay]

Αγαπητά παιδιά,

Σήμερα ξεκινά η νέα σχολική χρονιά στην Ελλάδα
(στο Ισραήλ ξεκίνησε πριν από λίγες ημέρες).

Σας εύχομαι μια επιτυχημένη και δημιουργική σχολική χρονιά, γεμάτη αναζητήσεις. Μελετήστε, μάθετε, κάντε ερωτήσεις, προσπαθήστε και μη φοβάστε ποτέ να κάνετε μεγάλα όνειρα.

Να θυμάστε ότι είστε παιδιά δύο αρχαίων και σπουδαίων λαών, οι οποίοι εμπλούτισαν την ανθρωπότητα με ιδέες, αξίες, γνώσεις και δημιουργία. Η Ελλάδα, το Ισραήλ και ο εβραϊκός λαός, ο καθένας με τον δικό του μοναδικό τρόπο, άφησαν βαθύ αποτύπωμα στον ανθρώπινο πολιτισμό και συνεχίζουν μέχρι σήμερα να προσφέρουν στον κόσμο στους τομείς της επιστήμης, του πολιτισμού, της ιατρικής, της τεχνολογίας και της καινοτομίας.

Εσείς είστε εκείνοι που θα συνεχίσετε αυτή την υπέροχη κληρονομιά. Οι γνώσεις που θα αποκτήσετε σήμερα θα σας δώσουν τη δυνατότητα να δημιουργήσετε, να επηρεάσετε θετικά και να οικοδομήσετε αύριο έναν καλύτερο κόσμο.

Μελετήστε, με προσπάθεια, γίνετε σοφότεροι — και μην ξεχνάτε να απολαμβάνετε και τη διαδρομή.

Καλή και δημιουργική σχολική χρονιά! 🇮🇱🤝🇬🇷

[Άδωνις Γεωργιάδης @AdonisGeorgiadi]

Με αφορμή τον εορτασμό της Εβραϊκής Πρωτοχρονιάς, του Ρος Ασανά, επιθυμώ να απευθύνω τις πιο θερμές και ειλικρινείς μου ευχές στους Έλληνες Εβραίους συμπολίτες μας, καθώς και σε ολόκληρο τον εβραϊκό λαό. Το Ρος Ασανά αποτελεί μια περίοδο πνευματικής ανασυγκρότησης, ελπίδας και αναλογισμού. Ως Υπουργός Υγείας της Ελληνικής Δημοκρατίας, εύχομαι το νέο έτος να φέρει σε κάθε σπίτι το πολυτιμότερο αγαθό: την Υγεία. Παράλληλα, εύχομαι η νέα χρονιά να φέρει τη σταθερότητα και την πολυπόθητη ειρήνη, με την ασφάλεια και την ευημερία να κυριαρχούν για όλο τον κόσμο.Οι Έλληνες Εβραίοι αποτελούν αναπόσπαστο και ιστορικό κομμάτι του έθνους μας, προσφέροντας διαχρονικά στην πατρίδα μας. Με αισθήματα βαθιάς εκτίμησης και φιλίας, εύχομαι σε όλους ένα έτος ευλογημένο, δημιουργικό και δημιουργικό.Shana Tova u'Metuka! (שנה טובה ומתוקה)

[Ambassador Pninat Yanay @Amb_PninatYanay]

I was delighted to meet today with the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea, Juseong Lim.

For more than six decades, #Israel and South #Korea have enjoyed relations founded on friendship, mutual respect, and cooperation. Over the years, Israeli innovation has contributed to the development of advanced solutions in agriculture, water technologies, research and development, technology, and security—areas in which Israeli knowledge and creativity provide tangible value to South Korea and to countries around the world.

Israel may be a small country, but it is a powerful source of ideas, initiative, and innovation. Our ability to identify challenges, think differently, and transform ideas into practical solutions is an asset we are proud to share with our friends worldwide.

South Korea, too, is a global leader in technology, industry, and groundbreaking thinking. The connection between our two countries therefore holds exceptional potential for further cooperation and shared achievement.

Beyond our fascinating professional discussion, I had the privilege of meeting a truly wonderful person—a highly experienced, thoughtful, and gracious diplomat who welcomed me with extraordinary warmth, openness, and kindness.

I left our meeting with a wonderful feeling and a genuine desire to continue our dialogue, deepen our friendship, and create new opportunities for cooperation. 🇮🇱🇰🇷🇬🇷

@IsraelMFA
@Israel

[Ambassador Pninat Yanay @Amb_PninatYanay]

@AdonisGeorgiadi 🇮🇱🇬🇷

[Άδωνις Γεωργιάδης @AdonisGeorgiadi]

Σήμερα το πρωί είχα την τύχη να γνωρίσω από κοντά στο γραφείο μου στο Υπουργείο Υγείας τη νέα Πρέσβη του @IsraelinGreece @Amb_PninatYanay και συζητήσαμε για μία εκτεταμένη συνεργασία μεταξύ της Ελλάδος και του Ισραήλ στην Υγεία. Μακάρι να γίνει θα ωφεληθεί πολύ το ΕΣΥ από κάτι τέτοιο

[Ambassador Pninat Yanay @Amb_PninatYanay]

“Last night, I had the privilege of attending the After Eden Festival, a moving event organized by the Jewish community of Athens in memory of Eden Ben Rubi, who was murdered at the Nova Music Festival during the October 7 massacre. She was only 23 years old.

Eden had a deep and special connection to Greece. She spent part of her childhood here, attended summer camps, formed many friendships, and grew to love this country and its people. In that sense, here in Greece too, Eden was one of us.

Since her murder, the Jewish community has refused to let her memory fade. Year after year, together with Eden’s family, the community gathers to remember her, to tell her story, and to celebrate the life she loved so much.

There is something deeply powerful in a community that chooses not only to remember those it has lost, but to continue speaking their names, sharing their stories, and carrying their memory forward.

Eden was one of approximately 1,200 people murdered in Hamas’s brutal terrorist attack on October 7 — young men and women, children, parents and grandparents whose lives were cruelly taken.

But memory cannot be murdered.

My heartfelt gratitude to the Jewish community in Greece for its commitment, for embracing the Ben Rubi family, and for continuing, year after year, to keep Eden’s light alive.

Eden was 23. She had dreams, friendships, love, and plans for the future.
We will continue to say her name. We will continue to tell her story. And we will continue to remember.

May her memory be a blessing.”

📹: @ertnewsofficial

@IsraelMFA
@Israel

[Ambassador Pninat Yanay @Amb_PninatYanay]

Yesterday, @PrimeministerGR @kmitsotakis delivered his annual address at the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF).

In his speech, he presented a series of economic measures for the year ahead, including tax reductions, relief for small businesses, and significant tax benefits for families with three children — as part of Greece’s efforts to support families and address the country’s demographic challenge.

Under Prime Minister Mitsotakis’ leadership, Greece has grown significantly stronger, demonstrating economic stability and remarkable progress across many sectors.

This growing strength is also reflected in Greece’s expanding strategic partnerships and alliances with countries around the world — including, of course, its strong and ever-deepening partnership with Israel. 🇮🇱🇬🇷

[Ambassador Pninat Yanay @Amb_PninatYanay]

Visiting the Jewish Museum of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki.

It is difficult to put into words the extraordinary strength of the community that once lived here.

For centuries, the Jews of Thessaloniki formed one of the largest, most important and vibrant Jewish communities in the world. They did not simply live alongside the city — they were an integral part of the city itself.

They were merchants and workers, teachers and intellectuals, journalists and musicians, craftsmen and port workers. They established schools, synagogues and community institutions, created a rich cultural and journalistic life, and made Thessaloniki an extraordinary center of Jewish life.

The Jewish presence at the port was so significant that on Shabbat and Jewish holidays, the Port of Thessaloniki would cease operations.

And then the Nazi machinery of extermination reached here too.

To Greece.
To Thessaloniki.
To their homes.

To find even a five-year-old Jewish child — not because of anything that child had done, but simply because he or she was Jewish.

In 1943, the trains began leaving Thessaloniki for Auschwitz-Birkenau. Entire families were forced onto trains and sent to their deaths.

Approximately 96% of the Jews of Thessaloniki were murdered in the Holocaust.

It is worth stopping for a moment to take in that number…

And perhaps it is also worth opening a dictionary — especially for those who repeat the word “genocide” without understanding what it actually means.

Not a slogan.
Not a campaign detached from reality.

A systematic attempt to murder a people.
To erase a people — their children, their parents, their elderly, their culture, their faith and their memory — simply because they were Jews.

And from the few who survived, together with Jews who had left Thessaloniki before the Holocaust, a remarkable historical thread leads all the way to Israel.

The Jewish port workers of Thessaloniki brought their experience and expertise to the Land of Israel and were among those who helped establish Jewish labor at the Port of Haifa.

I then continued to the site where the Holocaust Museum of Greece is currently being built in Thessaloniki.

There, I met again with David Saltiel, President of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki and President of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece, who, together with the community, is working to establish an impressive multi-story museum that will tell future generations the story of the community that once flourished here — its life and its destruction, but also its revival.

I was deeply moved to see how much is being done to ensure that the names, the faces and the stories will never disappear.

Since arriving in Greece as Israel’s Ambassador, I have felt a profound connection to the Jews of Greece and to the Jewish communities here, and I truly feel that I represent them as well. The Jewish history I encounter here touches me deeply and strengthens that connection every time.

Remembering the Holocaust is not only a duty we owe to the dead.

It is a lesson for the living.

Because only those who truly look at the terrible, painful and bloody journey endured by the Jewish people in Europe — and understand where hatred can lead when Jews have no one to protect them — can fully understand why the Jewish people need the State of Israel.

A strong, independent Israel, capable of defending itself.
As strong as it can possibly be.

https://t.co/4z0cOS10vu

[Ambassador Pninat Yanay @Amb_PninatYanay]

Εκ μέρους μου και της Πρεσβείας του @IsraelinGreece , τα ειλικρινή μας συλλυπητήρια για την τραγική απώλεια των δύο πιλότων που χάθηκαν εχθές.
Η σκέψη μας είναι με τις οικογένειές τους και με το λαό της Ελλάδας.