Foreign Ministry offers bereaved husband and father Leo Dee position as special envoy

Rabbi Dee confirmed that he was offered the diplomatic role.

By World Israel News Staff

Bereaved husband and father Rabbi Leo Dee has been offered a position with Israel’s Foreign Ministry, The Jerusalem Post reported Wednesday.

Rabbi Dee confirmed that he is in discussions regarding the position of special envoy to Jewish communities around the world.

Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said he was inspired by Dee’s call for unity among Israelis — made during his eulogy for his wife Lucy Dee.

Lucy, 48, and her daughters Maya and Rina – British-Israeli residents of Efrat – were driving in the Jordan Valley on a Friday afternoon when a Palestinian terrorist rammed into their car and proceeded to shoot. The sisters, 20 and 15 years old, were pronounced dead at the scene; the mother was transferred to a Jerusalem hospital in critical condition and died several days later.

“Today the Jewish people have proven that we are one, we are united,” Rabbi Dee said at his wife’s funeral, attended by an estimated 10,000 people from across the country.

“When a simple, quiet family in Efrat is devastated, the whole country hurts.And when a family in Tel Aviv is devastated, the whole country hurts. There’s no greater proof of our unity.”

Although the rabbi was experiencing intense loss, his message was a comforting one, considering that hundreds of thousands of Israelis have been demonstrating regularly in recent months against the new Netanyahu government’s plans for judicial reform. The protests – some of which were labeled ‘Day of Disruption,’ aimed at shutting down the country’ – included language signifying deep division in Israeli society beyond the issue of the reforms, incitement to violence and mob behavior.

In turn, approximately 600,000 people attended a pro-government demonstration in Jerusalem as well, chanting that the majority demands the reforms.

Ahead of Memorial Day for Fallen IDF Soldiers and Victims of Terror, Rabbi Dee appealed to the public not to protest at cemeteries or make political speeches and instead to stress the unity of the Jewish nation.

Earlier this month, following the capture of the two Hamas terrorists responsible for the murder of the Dee women, the rabbi praised the Israeli security forces, adding:

“If the terrorists would have been captured alive, I would have wanted to ask them why they did this. What was their vision for a better world? I asked the Shin Bet if I could speak with their families to ask them that question.”

Dee familyIsraeli diplomacyJewish UnityLeo DeeMinister Eli CohenPalestinian terror