A Hier Calling

Only a born diplomat could segue from a childhood on the crowded Lower East Side to a rabbinic post in remote Vancouver to earning the respect and confidence of presidents, kings, and world leaders as an acknowledged champion of human rights. After 46 years as the dean of Los Angeles’s Simon Wiesenthal Center, Rabbi Marvin (Moshe Chaim) Hier is stepping down from the post – but his “retirement” is merely a stepping stone toward his newest venture to foster peace and tolerance in Jerusalem

Dateline

Amman, Jordan. Late September 1997.

Two Mossad agents track down Khaled Mashal, a leading Hamas operative linked to numerous terror attacks against Israelis, as he is exiting his private vehicle.

The agents botch the operation, spraying Mashal with poison that injures him, but fails to kill him. Jordan’s King Hussein, who signed a peace treaty with Israel three years earlier, is incensed that Israel staged the attack in his country, and threatens to execute the Mossad agents unless Israel delivers an antidote to cure Mashal, being kept alive on a respirator in an Amman hospital.

Prime Minister Netanyahu complies with Hussein’s demand, and Mashal is cured, but the incident creates friction between Israel and Jordan, threatening their fragile peace treaty.

One month later, and 12,000 miles away, Rabbi Marvin (Moshe Chaim) Hier is driving to a dentist’s appointment when he receives an incoming call from General Ali Shukri, head of Hussein’s private office. Rabbi Hier led two missions from the Simon Wiesenthal Center over the years to meet with King Hussein at his palace, and Shukri knows he has a trusted voice on the other end of the line.