WINNIPEG — After leaving his position with Israel Bonds here just before Rosh Hashanah last year, Ariel Karabelnicoff, left, returned to his post at the beginning of February.

During the time Karabelnicoff was away, the Israel bonds office in Winnipeg was closed and all dealings went through the main office in Toronto.

“Purchases of bonds still took place, and no long-term damage was done with the closure of the office, but it’s best for everyone if the office here is open for business,” Karabelnicoff said in an interview.

He said he left to work at Oreck Canada, a retail-distribution company, where he managed its call centre, but came back because he missed his old job.

“What can I say? I like working for the State of Israel and I am very happy to be back,” he said. “I feel that the work I am doing is meaningful, and my heart is in this job. I will try to make a difference.”

Since he has been back, Karabelnicoff, who was born in Argentina and lived in Modi’in in Israel before coming to Winnipeg, said that sales have been “very solid.”

“It’s important that we have a functioning office in Winnipeg, especially at this very critical time, economically and politically for Israel,” he added.

“Look, in New York, people who have been laid off from Wall Street are applying to get a job selling Israel Bonds. If I were in New York, do you know how many people would want my job?” he said.

Even after multiple wars and everything else it has been through, Israel has never once defaulted on paying back its bonds, the personable Karabelnicoff said.

He noted that more than one million Israelis are now within range of Grad missiles that have been launched from Gaza.

“Because of this, the government of Israel will spend hundreds of millions of dollars building missile-resistant structures like kindergartens, schools, synagogues, hospitals, bus stations  and other vital infrastructure in the south of Israel to protect the population and try to allow people to live as normally as possible.”

Money from Israel Bonds purchases will be used to invest in infrastructure in southern Israel, Karabelnicoff said.