In October 2016, the Mexican government fired Andres Roemer, a world-renowned thinker and author and the country's ambassador to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization after he refused to vote in favor of a resolution denying the Jewish people's ties to Jerusalem.
"It was the saddest day of my life," Roemer told Israel Hayom. "I was fired from my job unfairly."
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Roemer, who is Jewish, was unwilling to vote against his conscience. And despite having paid a personal and professional price for the move, he insists the resolution he was told to support was a "crime against reason."
According to Roemer, it was due to his religion that Mexican government officials did not believe his motives were pure.
While serving as Mexico's UNESCO envoy, Roemer served alongside Israel's then-UNESCO Ambassador Carmel Shama-Hacohen, who has since been elected Ramat Gan's mayor.
When Shama-Hacohen was informed the name of the city's El Al Street needed to be changed, as Ramat Gan had annexed the adjacent city of Ramat Efal, which already had its own El Al Street, he asked residents if they would object to changing the name of their street in honor of Roemer, and they agreed.
Dan Wechtel, a resident of Roemer Street, told Israel Hayom he came home one evening to find a letter from Andres Roemer posted to the bulletin board in the lobby of his building that read: "Thank you. Happy New Year, and thank you. It has been one of the great privileges of my life to be part of your honorable place. This is a small and symbolic gift to remind you of my endless gratitude to you all."
The gift in question? A small bottle of tequila and a shot glass, from Mexico no less, had been left beside the door of each apartment in the building.
As Roemer explained to Israel Hayom, "Tequila is a drink that enters the body and makes you feel warm and happy. That is what I wanted them to have from me – warmth and happiness."
