Jeremy Issacharoff

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Jeremy Issacharoff ( born 1955, London, England) is a senior diplomat in Israel's Foreign Service holding the personal rank of Ambassador. He held a number of central foreign policy positions in Israel since the early eighties and since 2005, has served as the Deputy Chief of Mission to Embassy of Israel in Washington D.C.

He was born to a notable and well known Bukharian and Sephardi Jewish family in 1955 in London, England. [1]. His father Abrasha Issacharoff was a prominent dealer in precious stones and a former resistance fighter in the underground Etzel, (also called the Irgun). His mother Ruth is a direct descendant of a prominent nineteenth century Rabbi, Eliezer Papo, otherwise known as the "Pele Yoetz", the title of his well known treatise on morals and ethics.

Jeremy was educated in Hasmonean Grammar School and went to the London School of Economics in the University of London, receiving an LLB (hons.) majoring in International Law and M.Sc (International Relations) specializing in strategy under the late Philip Windsor one of the foremost strategists of his time.

In 2003 Mr. Issacharoff was asked by the UN Secretary General to serve on the UN's United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, consisting of senior experts in the realm of arms control and disarmament from approximately twenty countries. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of UNIDIR. In the same year, Mr. Issacharoff was appointed to become Israel's Ambassador to India but was unable to take up the post for family reasons. In 2005, he returned to Washington for a second time, becoming the Deputy Chief of Mission, one of the most important career diplomatic posts outside of Israel.

Before assuming his post in Washington, Mr Issacharoff was the first Deputy Director General for Strategic Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem, a newly formed division to cope with politico-military affairs in the post 9/11 world. In this capacity he had the overall responsibility in the MFA for arms control, non-proliferation, counter terrorism, export controls and regional security. He played a central role in Israel's diplomatic efforts in these areas since 1999, and led numerous delegations to bilateral and multilateral dialogs with a wide range of countries. He is generally regarded as one of Israel's foremost experts on the diplomatic efforts regarding Iran in recent years. He had a central role in the negotiations with the European Union on the ENP Agreement in 2004 and also the then expanding ongoing contacts with NATO.

Mr. Issacharoff started his career in 1980-1981, in the Legal Adviser's Office in Foreign Ministry. He was a member of several Israeli delegations designed to negotiate normalization agreements with Egypt. In 1981 he was admitted to the Israeli Bar Association. In 1983 he was Acting Director of the Treaties Department in Legal Adviser's Bureau in Foreign Ministry.

In 1984 he was the Acting Director of the Disarmament Department in Foreign Ministry and Inter Ministerial Coordinator of the project to establish a Voice of America relay station in Israel under the Senior Deputy Director General Hanan Bar On. In 1985 Mr. Issacharoff was Israel's Representative to the First Committee on Disarmament Affairs of the UN General Assembly.

From 1986 to 1989 Mr. Issacharoff was Policy Adviser to the Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations in New York under Benjamin Netanyahu. He was responsible for a range of policy matters including peace process, palestinian affairs, disarmament and legal affairs.

In 1989 he returned to Israel, and served as the Personal Adviser to the Director General of the Foreign Ministry. He was a member of the Israeli Delegation to peace talks with Lebanon held in Washington pursuant to the Madrid peace conference.

In 1992 he served as the Policy Counselor in the Foreign Minister's Bureau, Jerusalem under Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. The next year, he was appointed the Minister-Counselor For Political Affairs in Embassy in Washington DC. He was responsible for liaison with the State Department and the National Security Council on bilateral policy issues including the peace process, multilateral talks, strategic and military cooperation, arms control, disarmament and nonproliferation with particular emphasis on Iran's efforts in WMD and missile areas. He was a member of the Israeli delegation to the Multilateral Working Group on Arms Control and Regional Security (ACRS) and took part in these talks held in Moscow, Tunis and Doha.

Five years later, Mr. Issacharoff returned to Israel in 1998, and became a Member of the Strategic Policy Planning Group and the Joint Strategic Planning Committee, both designed to be senior consultative working groups with the United States on strategic and military affairs. In addition, he was appointed Representative of the Foreign Minister to the Inter-Ministerial Committee to establish the National Security Council in Israel. He then became the Head of the Arms Control and Regional Security Bureau in the MFA.

He is married to Laura Kam and has three children - Dean, David, and Ella. [2]