Major changes in the staff of the Israel Consulate General here will take place in the next few weeks, it was reported here today. Paul Kedar, Israel’s Consul General here, will return to Israel in mid-August. He will be replaced by Naftali Lavie, presently director of the press department and spokesman at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem. Kedar has been serving as Consul General since August 1978.
Benjamin Abileah, Deputy Consul General, was appointed a Counsellor in the Israel Embassy in Washington. Abileah, who is scheduled to go to Washington next week, will be replaced here by Uri Bar-Ner, who has been serving until now as Deputy Director of the North American Division of Israel’s Foreign Ministry.
Another new appointee in the Israel Consulate in New York is Yitzhak Oren, who replaced Dr. Emmanuel Lotem as Consul for Academic Affairs. Lotem was appointed First Secretary in the Israel Embassy in South Africa. Gideon Shomron, a Counsellor on Christian issues and Churches here was transferred to the Israel Embassy in Washington as a Counsellor.
Meanwhile, Nachman Shai, Israel’s spokesman at the United Nations, is scheduled to leave for Washington next week to assume his new post as spokesman for the Israel Embassy there. Judith Varnai-Dranger was appointed the new Israel spokesperson at the UN.
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