Yoram Ben-Zeev

Yoram Ben-Zeev
Born (1944-07-20) July 20, 1944 (age 80)
NationalityIsraeli
OccupationDiplomat

Yoram Ben-Zeev (Hebrew: יורם בן-זאב; born 20 July 1944) is an Israeli diplomat and former Israeli ambassador to Germany. Born in the Palestine Mandate (modern day Israel) on 20 July 1944—the date of the attempted assassination of Adolf Hitler, a fact described as symbolic by Ulrich W. Sahm of haGalil[1]—he served as a lieutenant in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in the 1967 Six-Day War, in which he was wounded.[2] 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. After some years working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in embassies in Manila and Hong Kong, he was adviser to the president 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.[3] He said one of his goals of his ambassadorship is to deepen relations between Israel and the European Union, and to improve relations with the German public—the European peoples most critical of Israel according to surveys.[4] He is married to Iris and has three children.[3]

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."[5] During the 2008–2009 Gaza War he said that Hamas in Gaza was not just a terrorist organisation but a terrorist government, and that the organisation was backed by Iran. He said the Israeli offensive was not disproportionate and that they were allowing food and drugs into Gaza.[6] Regarding comments made by Thilo Sarrazin, a former senator of finance of Berlin, that "All Jews share a certain gene; Basques have certain genes that differentiate them from others", Ben-Zeev said he was more interested in the reaction to Sarrazin that the comments themselves.[7][8]

References

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  1. ^ Sahm, Ulrich W. "Yoram Ben Zeev: Israels künftiger Botschafter in Berlin" (in German) (Google Translate). haGalil. 31 July 2007. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  2. ^ "Yoram Ben Zeev – geboren am 20. Juli 1944" (in German) (Google Translate). Hamburger Abendblatt. 14 December 2007. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  3. ^ a b General Info: Ambassador – Ambassador Yoram Ben-Zeev. Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel). Retrieved 23 October 2010. Archived 23 July 2011.
  4. ^ Stürmer, Michael; Wergin, Clemens. ""Die Deutschen machen es sich nicht einfach"" (in German) (Google Translate). Die Welt. 17 January 2008. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  5. ^ Kirschbaum, Erik. "Israel denies encouraging Jews to leave Germany". Reuters. 12 December 2007. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  6. ^ Lambeck, Martin S. "„Diese Operation ist nicht gedacht, um Gaza zurückzuerobern“" (in German) (Google Translate). Bild. 4 January 2009. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  7. ^ Lowman, Stephen. "German politician stirs controversy with his inflammatory views on Muslims and Jews". The Washington Post. 30 August 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010. 23 July 2011.
  8. ^ Peters, Jan-Eric; Malzahn, Claus Christian. "Israels Botschafter – "Ich lerne natürlich Deutsch"" (in German) (Google Translate). Die Welt. 19 September 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
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