Sallai Meridor has served as Israel’s ambassador to the US since April 2006. Meridor grew up in a political family. His father was a member of the Knesset from the Herut party of Menachem Begin, and his brother Dan also served in the Knesset as a member of the Likud party and served as Minister of Justice in the government of Yitzhak Shamir and Minister of Finace in the government of Benjamin Netanyahu.

 

Sallai Meridor earned his BA degree at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He served as an intelligence officer in the Israeli Defense Forces early in his career.  

 

He then served as an advisor to Moshe Arens, the Minister of Defense and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Meridor played a role in the peace process leading to the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference, participated in the negotiations that followed as the representative of the Ministry of Defense, and led Israel’s Inter-Agency Steering Committee on Arms Control.

 

Meridor later served as treasurer of the Jewish Agency for Israel and the World Zionist Organization (WZO) and as the head of the settlement division of the WZO. From 1999-2005 he served as chairman of the Jewish Agency and the WZO. As chairman of the Jewish Agency, he negotiated frequently and intensely with American Jewish organizations and leaders.

 

Personal Voyage Leads Ambassador to U.S. (by Nathan Guttman, Jewish Daily Forward)