Ze'ev Ben Aryeh (born Vladimir Flanchik, , , on October 30, 1945) is an Israeli diplomat and the former Israeli ambassador to

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

, who pleaded guilty to illegally tipping off his long-term friend Foreign Minister

Avigdor Lieberman Avigdor Lieberman (, ; born 5 June 1958) is a Soviet-born Israeli politician who served as Ministry of Finance (Israel), Minister of Finance between 2021 and 2022, having previously served twice as Deputy Prime Minister of Israel from 2006 to ...

to a criminal investigation being conducted into his affairs.

Career

Ze'ev Ben-Aryeh was born in

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

(now

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

). In 1971, after graduating from the

University of Kharkiv The V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (), also known as Kharkiv National University or Karazin University, is a public university in Kharkiv, Ukraine. It was founded in 1804 through the efforts of Vasily Karazin, becoming the second old ...

, he immigrated to Israel. In 1972, he began working for

Kol Israel ''Kol Yisrael'' or ''Kol Israel'' (, lit. "Voice of Israel"; also Israel Radio) was Israel's public domestic and international radio service. It operated as a division of the Israel Broadcasting Service from 1951 to 1965, and later the Israel B ...

and for many years was director of its Russian-language news department. He also sat on the editorial board of the Russian-language newspaper "Vremia" in the 1990s. In 1993, he joined the Israeli Foreign Service. He has worked at Israeli embassies in Moscow,

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

, and

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, and from 1997 to 1998, was

chargé d'affaires A (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador. The term is Frenc ...

at the Israeli embassy in Minsk. In 2004, he was appointed ambassador to Belarus. Lieberman had allegedly lobbied for him to be appointed ambassador.

Breach of trust trial

Ben Aryeh was accused of illegally passed Lieberman documents regarding a criminal investigation into his alleged acceptance of bribes. He caught wind of the investigation when he was given a package of documents with details of the investigation and a request for assistance from Belarusian authorities, and was told to give the package to Belarusian Police. According to the indictment, he shared the package with Lieberman. On April 3, 2010, Ben-Aryeh was forced to resign from the Foreign Ministry. On May 24, 2010, the

Israel Police The Israel Police (; ) is the civilian police force of Israel. As with most other police forces in the world, its duties include crime fighting, traffic control, maintaining public safety, and counter-terrorism. It is under the jurisdiction o ...

recommended Ben Aryeh and Lieberman be indicted on the charge of breach of trust; it was also recommended that Ben Aryeh be charged with obstruction of justice. The case was especially noteworthy because of Lieberman's role as the leader of

Yisrael Beiteinu Yisrael Beiteinu (, ) is a conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may ...

, the third largest party (by voting share in Israel), a fact which left Lieberman Deputy Israeli Prime-Minister. In June 2012, Ben-Aryeh pleaded guilty to disclosure in breach of duty and obstruction of justice as part of a plea bargain, and received a sentence of four months' community service.Former Belarus ambassador sentenced to 4 months
/ref> Lieberman went to trial and was found not guilty.

Personal life

Ben-Aryeh is married to Olga, and has two children: a son, George, and a daughter, Elena. He lives in Lotem.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ben Aryeh, Zeev Israeli Jews Ambassadors of Israel to Belarus National University of Kharkiv alumni Living people Ukrainian emigrants to Israel 1945 births