Aliza Shenhar, the rector of the University of Haifa, has been named as Israel’s next ambassador to Russia, according to Yirmiyahu Shiran, the press attache at the Israeli Embassy here.
Shenhar’s appointment was made by Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. She will fill the post left vacant by Haim Bar-Lev, who died of a heart attack in May. Shenhar, 51, a literature professor with a specialty in folklore, is a political appointee with no diplomatic background.
She speaks English, Hebrew and German, but she does not speak Russian. However, she is currently undergoing intensive language training in Russian, according to Shiran.
Her date of arrival in Moscow is not yet known.
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