Senior Faculty
Amb. (Ret.) Shemi Tzur
Personal rank of Ambassador since April 2006. Previously a Political Counselor at the MFA Information and Media Department and participated as a member of the Advisory Staff of the Israel Delegation to the Middle East Peace Talks in Madrid and, in continuation, in Moscow and Washington. Held a wide variety of positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including Vice-consul in Johannesburg, followed by two years as Second Secretary of the Embassy in Pretoria; Vice Consul in Turkey at the Consulate General of Israel in Istanbul; Information and Media Department for the MFA; Consul at the Consulate General of Israel in Sydney, Australia, Acting Ambassador to Fiji; as Chargé d'affaires ad interim, opened the Embassy of Israel in Uzbekistan, and was instrumental in the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two counties; Ambassador of Israel to Cyprus and presented with the MFA Award for Excellent Performance and Appreciation; Director of Human Resources, MFA; Ambassador to Finland and Estoni; Acting Ambassador to Angola and Mozambique; Director Central Asia and Caucasus Division at MFA and Ambassador Non-resident to Turkmenistan, the Republic of Armenia and Kyrgyzstan; Ambassador to New Zealand and non-resident to Tonga, Samoa and Cook Islands; Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Turkmenistan.
Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Dr. Efraim Lapid
BA in Middle East Studies and Arabic, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Has a teaching degree and an MA in Political Science. Currently head of the Information Team at the National Emergency Management Authority (MENA), dealing with hundreds of Israeli and foreign spokespersons. Brigadier General (res.) with extensive experience and expertise in both the military and public affairs. Previously a senior officer in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) Intelligence Corp. Served as IDF spokesperson, was a senior instructor for the senior staff at the National Defence College. Was also head of Israel Army Radio. Has written numerous articles about Israeli intelligence as well as media and security. Has written a book about Israeli intelligence, which will be published in English the near future. Serves on the board of several public education non-profit organisations.
Col (Res.) Yonatan Lerner
BA Economics, Tel Aviv University. MA Political Sciences, Haifa University. Currently Strategic Planning Professional. Consultant to various organisations. Expertise in Dynamic Simulation and Scenario Planning. Adjunct senior lecturer on entrepreneurship at the Technion. Colonel (ret.) Israeli Air Force. Head of the Strategic Planning Department of the Israel Defence Forces.
