Avi Pazner

Aviezer "Avi" Pazner (born 9 June 1937) is an Israeli diplomat. Pazner is the World Chairman of Keren Hayesod - United Israel Appeal.^[1]

Biography

Avi Pazner was born in the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk). His father was Haim Pazner, a Jewish Agency representative who helped rescue Jews from Nazi-occupied Europe. He immigrated to Israel with his family at the age of 16. Pazner attended Gymnasia Rehavia High School in Jerusalem. In the Israel Defense Forces, he served in the Armored Corps. Pazner graduated from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with a degree in Political Science and Economics.^[2] Pazner is married and has three children.

Diplomatic career

Pazner joined the Israeli foreign service in 1965. He is fluent in six languages: Hebrew, French, English, Spanish, Italian and German. He served as counsellor at Israel’s Embassy in Washington, headed the Foreign Ministry’s Press Division and served as Ministry Spokesman from 1981. In 1986 he was appointed senior advisor to Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. In 1991, he was appointed as Israel’s Ambassador to Italy.^[3] He headed the negotiations with the Vatican, which resulted in the establishment of diplomatic relations with Israel. In 1995-1998, he served as Ambassador to France and was decorated by President Chirac as Commandeur of the French Légion d'honneur.^[4] Pazner was also the non-resident Ambassador to and the first non-resident Ambassador of Israel to Albania.

In September 1998, Pazner was elected World Chairman of Keren Hayesod. In 2012, Nir Barkat, the Mayor of Jerusalem appointed him chairman of the Jerusalem International Book Fair.^[5]

Published works

Pazner is the author of the "The Secrets of a Diplomat," published in French (Editions du Rocher, 2005).

References