Foreign Ministry chooses ambassador to Russia after almost a year
The job of ambassador to Russia was put on hold partly because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu considered a political appointment to the position.
By LAHAV HARKOVAlexander Ben Zvi (photo credit: FOREIGN MINISTRY)
The Foreign Ministry’s Appointments Committee chose Alexander Ben Zvi as the ambassador to Russia on Tuesday, after nearly a year in which no one held the job.Ben Zvi is currently ambassador to Poland and has previously been Israel’s envoy to Slovakia and Costa Rica. He was also a diplomat in the Israeli Embassy in Moscow in the past, as well as the Foreign Ministry’s deputy director-general for Eurasia.The job of ambassador to Russia was put on hold partly because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu considered a political appointment to the position.The appointment, like all others made by the Foreign Ministry’s committee, is subject to cabinet approval.Israel’s next ambassador to China will be Irit Ben-Abba, currently ambassador to Greece and formerly to the Philippines and a “roving” ambassador in the Balkans. She was a diplomat in the Israeli Embassy in Beijing and as the Foreign Ministry’s deputy director-general for economics.The committee also appointed Eddie Shapira as consul-general to Shanghai. Shapira is currently ambassador to Uzbekistan and was consul-general to St. Petersburg and ambassador to Belarus.Alex Goldman-Scheiman, head of a department in the Foreign Ministry’s Diplomatic Research Center, will be Israel’s new ambassador to Belarus. He was deputy ambassador in Moscow and deputy consul-general in Chicago.The final appointment was Yonatan Tzedaka as consul-general in Bangalore. He is currently Israel’s deputy ambassador to Beijing and was a manager in the Foreign Ministry’s Department for Diplomatic Planning, an envoy to the Pacific Islands region and a diplomatic adviser to the Israeli Embassy in Tokyo.
