Draft:Nathan Meron

Nathan Meron (Hebrew: נתן מרון, born 16 February 1937) is a retired Israeli diplomat.

Early life
Nathan Meron was born in the city of Czernowitz – at the time Romania and today, Ukraine.

In 1941, he was transported, together with his parents and elder sister, Erica, to Transnistria; they were liberated by the Red Army in April 1944. A great part of his family perished during the Holocaust. After the War, the family moved to Romania, and in 1961 Nathan Meron arrived in Israel.

He studied General History and Russian Studies (specializing in Sovietology) at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. He is fluent in five languages – Hebrew, English, German, Romanian and Yiddish.

From his first marriage, he has four children and 11 grandchildren. Divorced in 1986 and remarried to Pamela née Sefton in 1991.

Diplomatic Career
In 1967 Nathan Meron joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel.

From 1967-1976 he held various positions in the Ministry including MASHAV where he was responsible for establishing various programmes for students from developing countries. One of these, the course for Development and Integration, was recognized by the UN as the only one of its kind.

In 1976 he was appointed Counsellor at the Embassy of Israel in South Africa. These years were the height of apartheid, and bilateral relations were complex. However, during his service, he established fruitful contacts within the black community which resulted in the first visit to Israel of a group of black leaders.

He returned to Jerusalem in 1981 where he took up the post of Senior Assistant to the First Deputy Director General for Relations with the USA, and Canada, also dealing with the issue of disarmament. In 1984 he was appointed Director of the Division for Asia and Oceania, covering relations with a wide range of countries in South East Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania. Between 1988 and 1991 Meron was Minister Plenipotentiary – Deputy Ambassador - at the Embassy of Israel in the UK. There he was mainly involved in political work, liaising with the Foreign Office, No. 10, and Parliament. Responsibilities also included the general management of the Embassy.

He received his first Ambassadorial position in 1991 when he was appointed Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark. Those were the days of the Oslo Accords and relations between Jerusalem and Copenhagen were close and vibrant. In 1995 Meron was promoted to the rank of "Ambassador for Life" by Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres.

Between 1995 and 1998, Meron was Deputy Director General in charge of relations with Russia; countries of the former Soviet Union; countries of Eastern and Central Europe. During this tenure, he was personally instrumental in establishing relations with Croatia and paving the way for relations with Macedonia – today North Macedonia. In 1998 Meron was appointed Ambassador to Austria; non-resident Ambassador to Croatia, Slovakia, and Slovenia; and Ambassador to the OSCE. It was the first time for an Israeli Ambassador to be in charge of such a large number of European countries and their relations with Israel. In 2000, following the formation of the new government in Vienna when Haider's antisemitic Freedom Party joined the coalition, Ambassador Meron was recalled to Jerusalem as a reaction to these political developments. It took 4 years for full diplomatic relations to be reestablished and an Israeli Ambassador returned to Vienna.

Between 2000 and 2003, Meron was Ambassador to the Russian Federation. Diplomatic activities in Russia were very different from those in Europe and were challenging. Moscow was the peak of his distinguished diplomatic career. In 2003 Nathan Meron retired from the Foreign Ministry.

Appointments
Between 2004-2012 Meron served as the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of a Russian energy conglomerate, with its main offices in Vienna, and an annual turnover of $US 3 billion.

Interests
International politics; archaeology; and good European soccer.