Zeev Boker () was the

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

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 ...

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

as well as Israel's

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

. He previously served as the counsel general of Israel to

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

from October 2018 to March 2020. He was Israel's sixth Ambassador to

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and its first Ambassador to

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

Early life

Boker was born and spent his early life on

Kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

Afek in the North of Israel. His parents had both been born in Poland and emigrated to Israel. When they met and married in their new homeland, they moved to the kibbutz and raised their three children there. Boker earned a master's degree in political science (cum laude) from the

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli 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. It is the second-ol ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

Career

He has served as a diplomat since November 1987, when he joined the Ministry of Foreign affairs as a cadet. He became the first Israeli ambassador to

(2006–2010). He also served in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

as deputy chief of mission (1990–1993) and deputy Chief of mission in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

(1997–2003). He then became ambassador to Ireland.New Israel ambassador starts work in Ireland
The Jewish Chronicle, 6 Nov 2015 In his role in New England, Boker also potential in for cooperation between the U.S. and Israel in the areas of academics and medicine, particularly digital health. While Ambassador to Ireland, Boker was scheduled to speak at

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

. Pro-Palestinian students protested. The event was cancelled when police and University security were unable to remove the protestors. The college considered the protestors to be attacking free speech.

Personal

Boker is married to Tali, a physician and manager of the Israeli Center for Disease Control. They have three children.

References

Living people Israeli Jews Ambassadors of Israel to Slovakia Ambassadors of Israel to Ireland Year of birth missing (living people) Consuls for Israel Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Social Sciences alumni {{Israel-diplomat-stub