Israel’s former London envoy Ron Prosor picked for Berlin role

Ron Prosor, a former Israeli ambassador in London, has been picked to become his country’s next envoy to Germany.

His appointment was announced on Wednesday by Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, who said it symbolised “the importance of Israel-Germany relations and the continued strengthening of cooperation with the new government in Berlin.”

Prosor – Israeli ambassador to the UK before 2011 and at the United Nations until 2015 – called it a “closing of a circle” because his father Uri was born in Germany.

“As someone who represented Israel in Great Britain and the UN, I am approaching my third mission as an ambassador with a feeling of responsibility, understanding, and recognizing the importance and centrality [of Germany] in Europe,” he said.

He was courted by several Israeli political parties after of the 2019 Knesset elections but eventually did not stand.

In his more than 20 years with the Foreign Ministry, Prosor also served as director-general of the ministry, as well as having senior roles in Washington and Bonn.

He was instrumental in establishing diplomatic relations behind the Iron Curtain following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and was a member of Israel’s delegation to the Wye River Summit talks in 1998.