Yoram Ben-Zeev (; born 20 July 1944) is an Israeli diplomat and former Israeli ambassador to Germany. Born in the Palestine Mandate (modern day

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

) on 20 July 1944—the date of the attempted assassination of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

, a fact described as symbolic by Ulrich W. Sahm of haGalil—he served as a lieutenant in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

(IDF) in the 1967

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

, in which he was wounded."Yoram Ben Zeev – geboren am 20. Juli 1944"

. '' Hamburger Abendblatt''. 14 December 2007. Retrieved 23 October 2010. He subsequently obtained a BA (1970) in international relations and took graduate studies (1972) in Middle Eastern studies and political science from the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

. After some years working in the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

and in embassies in Manila and Hong Kong, he was adviser to the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

from 1987 to 1993. After this he took on diplomat roles involving the Middle East and North America, before he was appointed Israeli ambassador to Germany in 2007, replacing Shimon Stein.General Info: Ambassador – Ambassador Yoram Ben-Zeev

(Israel). Retrieved 23 October 2010
Archived
23 July 2011. He said one of his goals of his ambassadorship is to deepen relations between Israel and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, and to improve relations with the German public—the European peoples most critical of Israel according to surveys. He is married to Iris and has three children. When in 2007 German media reported that an Israeli organisation, Nativ, was encouraging German Jews to relocate to Israel, Ben-Zeev said the aim was only to give them a sense of Israeli culture: "The main purpose of Nativ is to bring to those communities a sense of the Jewish culture, the Israeli culture and to help with education. The agenda is not to become movers of the communities to Israel." During the 2008–2009

Gaza War The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

he said that

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

in Gaza was not just a terrorist organisation but a terrorist government, and that the organisation was backed by

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. He said the Israeli offensive was not disproportionate and that they were allowing food and drugs into Gaza. Regarding comments made by Thilo Sarrazin, a former senator of finance of Berlin, that "All

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

share a certain gene;

Basques The Basques ( or ; ; ; ) are a Southwestern European ethnic group, characterised by the Basque language, a Basque culture, common culture and shared genetic ancestry to the ancient Vascones and Aquitanians. Basques are indigenous peoples, ...

have certain genes that differentiate them from others", Ben-Zeev said he was more interested in the reaction to Sarrazin that the comments themselves.Peters, Jan-Eric; Malzahn, Claus Christian
"Israels Botschafter – "Ich lerne natürlich Deutsch""

. ''

Die Welt (, ) is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group and it is considered a newspaper of record in Germany. Its leading competitors are the ...

''. 19 September 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.

References

External links

General Info: Ambassador – Ambassador Yoram Ben-Zeev

(Israel). {{DEFAULTSORT:Ben-Zeev, Yoram 1944 births Living people Ambassadors of Israel to Germany Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Social Sciences alumni