Zvi Heifetz (born December 9, 1956) is an Israeli diplomat who served as the Israeli Ambassador to China. He has previously served as the ambassador to the United Kingdom (from 2004 to 2007), the ambassador to Austria (from 2013 to 2015), and the ambassador to Russia (from 2015 to 2017). Born in

Tomsk Tomsk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast in Russia, on the Tom (river), Tom River. Population: Founded in 1604, Tomsk is one of the oldest cities in Siberia. It has six univers ...

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

, Heifetz moved to Israel at the age of 14. He spent 7 years with Israel Intelligence and completed as a major in the Israeli Army. He has a Law degree from the

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

and is a member of the Israeli Bar. Heifetz became the vice-chairman of the

Maariv ''Maariv'' or ''Maʿariv'' (, ), also known as ''Arvit'', or ''Arbit'' (, ), is a Jewish prayer service held in the evening or at night. It consists primarily of the evening '' Shema'' and ''Amidah''. The service will often begin with two ...

Group in 1999 and chairman of both the Hed-Arzi Music Production Company and

Tower Records Tower Records is an international retail franchising, franchise and online music store that was formerly based in Sacramento, California, United States. From 1960 until 2006, Tower operated retail stores in the United States, which closed when ...

, Israel in 2001. In 1989 Heiftetz served as one of the first Israeli diplomats at the Dutch Embassy in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, and in 1997 he worked as an external legal adviser to the Prime Minister's Office ("Nativ") on matters relating to the former Soviet Union. Since 2003 Heifetz has acted as an adviser and spokesman for the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

dealing with the Russian-language media. He was appointed to be the special envoy to the Gulf States in 2021, making him responsible for the establishment of two embassies,

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

and

Manama Manama ( ', Bahrani Arabic, Bahrani pronunciation: ) is the capital and List of cities in Bahrain, largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 297,502 as of 2012. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is ...

References

Israeli people of Russian-Jewish descent

External links

Interview with Zvi Heifetz
(2005) {{DEFAULTSORT:Heifetz, Zvi 1956 births Living people People from Tomsk Russian Jews Ambassadors of Israel to Russia Soviet emigrants to Israel Ambassadors of Israel to the United Kingdom Tel Aviv University alumni Ambassadors of Israel to Austria Ambassadors of Israel to China