youngdiplomats

Dr. Tal Becker serves as Principal Deputy Legal Adviser at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and as a current member of the Israeli peace negotiation team. In this capacity, he is on the front lines of some of Israel's most pressing diplomatic, legal and policy challenges. Among numerous positions, Dr. Becker has been a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, senior policy advisor to Israel's Minister of Foreign Affairs, a lead negotiator in the Annapolis peace talks, director of the international law department at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, counsel to Israel's UN Mission in New York, and an international law expert in the IDF.

Udi Dekel was head of the negotiations team with the Palestinians in the Annapolis process under the Olmert government. In this framework, he coordinated the staff work and led twelve negotiating committees. In February 2013 he was appointed Deputy Director of INSS. Brig. Gen. (ret.) Dekel filled many senior IDF positions in intelligence, international military cooperation, and strategic planning, His last post in the IDF was head of the Strategic Planning Division in the Planning Directorate of the General Staff, and as a reservist he is head of the Center for Strategic Planning. Brig. Gen. (ret.) Dekel served as head of the Israel-UN-Lebanon committee following the Second Lebanon War and head of military committees with Egypt and Jordan.

MK Zeev Elkin is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Likud. He served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs between March 2013 and June 2014, and then became Chairman of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. He studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, gaining a BA in history and mathematics in 1994 and an MA in history in the same year. Later Ze'ev Elkin was involved in academic Jewish and medieval studies, in particular, studied the works of Saadia Gaon, and was involved in Jewish education in the countries of former Soviet Union.

Ran Gidor is a UK & US-trained lawyer, with 20 years of diplomatic experience in the service of Israel's Foreign Ministry. He has been posted to Tbilisi, Georgia (1997-2000), Beijing, China (2000-2003) and London, UK (2007-2012), and has participated in numerous international conferences and seminars at the UN, EU and other international fora. In his current position, he serves as the Director of UN Political Affairs Department, which is responsible (among others) for shaping Israeli policy on all political issues debated at the UN Security Council and General Assembly, liaising with all the regional UN Peacekeeping forces and UNRWA (UN Relief Agency for Palestinian Refugees). In summer 2015 he will take up his next position as Deputy Ambassador to the European Union.

Sharon Kabalo is the Director of the International Relations Department at MASHAV - Israel's Agency for International Development Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She was previously posted as Deputy Consul General at the Consulate General of Israel to the Southeast based in Atlanta (2008-2013). Back in Jerusalem (2013-2014), she served in the Foreign Ministry’s North America Division, focusing on Israel’s bilateral relations with Canada. Since joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1998, Ms. Kabalo has been stationed both in Israel and abroad.

Joël Lion was raised in Luxembourg and immigrated to Israel in 1982. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1993 and since November 2014 he is the director of the Public Affairs and Branding Department of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem. In his distinguished diplomatic career abroad, Mr. Lion represented his country as Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy in Riga; Chargé D'Affaires for Slovakia at the Embassy in Vienna; Counselor in charge of Public Affairs at the Embassy in Berlin, Spokesperson and Consul for Media Affairs at the Consulate General in New York. Finally from 2011 to 2014, he served as Consul-General in Montreal and was Permanent Representative to ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization).

Yacov Livne was born in Moscow in 1967. He is the Director of 1st Eurasia Department since 2009. In his career at the MFA he represented his country as Press Attache at the Israeli Embassy in Moscow and as Counselor for Political Affairs at the Israeli Embassy in Berlin, and served as Heads of Central Asia and Caucasus Section and Senior US Analyst and deputy Director of International Department, Center for Political Research. Yacov Livne holds a B.A. degree in Physics from the Technion in Haifa and an M.A. degree in International Relations, Security and Diplomacy Studies from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Dr. Vladimir Mesamed was born in Petropavlovsk, Russia, and emigrated to Israel in 1994. Since 2008 he is a senior lecturer at the Department of History, Philosophy and Judaism ofThe Open University of Israel. He is also a lecturer of Persian and Iranian Studies at the Institute of the Afro-Asian Studies of the Hebrew University of jerusalem, a Political Observer at "Israel plus" TV channel and an expert at the Institute of the Middle East in Moscow. Dr. Mesamed holds Ph. D in Oriental Studies from the Istitute of Oriental Studies in Moscow and a B.S.&M.S. in Iranian Studies from Tashkent State University.

Dr. Eyal Propper is the Head of Bureau, Deputy Head of the Strategic Division at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and a guest lecturer on foreign relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Inter-Disciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya.Dr. Propper served more than seven years at the Israeli Embassy in Beijing: he was the first Academic and Press Officer after the establishment of the diplomatic relations between Israel and China in 1992, and in 2002 returned to China as Minister, Deputy Head of Mission and Head of the Political Bureau.

Oded Joseph, a career diplomat, was appointed in summer 2012 as the Director of the Eurasia 2 Department. After joining the Ministry in 1994, he served at the Embassy of Israel in Singapore and in Moscow and as Minister Counselor for Middle Eastern Affairs in our Embassy in Washington DC. He also served as an analyst at the Center for Political Research, as Director of the Coordination Department at the Bureau of the Director General of the MFA, as political advisor to the Director General of the MFA and as Assistant Political Advisor to the Prime Minister. Oded Joseph received a Bachelor degree in Political Science and ME Studies from Tel Aviv University.