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Ambassador of the State of Israel to the Republic of Armenia & to the Republic of Moldova
Ambassador of the State of Israel to the Republic of Armenia & to the Republic of Moldova
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; April 2022
President	Isaac Herzog
Preceded by	Eli Belicerkovsky

Joel Lion
יואל ליאון
Joel Lion; יואל ליאון
Israel Ambassador to Ukraine
	In office; August 2018 – August 2021
President	Reuven Rivlin
Preceded by	Eli Belocerkovsky
Succeeded by	Michael Brodsky
Personal details
Born	1964 (age 60–61); France
Citizenship	Israeli
Alma mater	The Hebrew University

Joel Lion (born 1964) is an Israeli diplomat, he serves currently as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the State of Israel to the Republic of Armenia and to the Republic of Moldova^[1]^[2] with residence in Jerusalem. He is the former Ambassador of the State of Israel to Ukraine.^[3]

From May 2017 to August 2018, he served as the Chief of Diplomatic Staff of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Hotovely.

Joel Lion joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1993.^[4]

Biography

Joel Lion is the son of Alain Lion and Helene Becher. He was born in 1964 in France and raised in Esch-sur-Alzette in Luxembourg. Mr. Lion is married to Rivka and is the father of eight children.

From September 2016 to October 2017, he served as the Special envoy for Holocaust issues and the return of Jewish assets from the Holocaust era. In that position, he worked to coordinate the work between the WJRO and the State of Israel.^[5]

Before from October 2014 to September 2016, he was Director of the Public & Academic Affairs Department at the Media and Public Affairs Division of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem.
From August 2011 to August 2014, Lion served Consul-General of the State of Israel in Montreal, with jurisdiction on Quebec and the Atlantic provinces, and also as the Permanent Representative of his country to ICAO, the International Civil Aviation Organization.

Prior to being appointed Consul General in Montreal, he served as the Spokesperson and Consul for Media Affairs^[6] at the Consulate General of Israel in New York. He assumed this post in August 2009, and has been responsible for maintaining direct contact with America’s national and local media in the tri-state area, before New York he served as Deputy Director for the Western European Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem and was responsible for political relations with Germany. Previously, he was Counselor, Head of the Public Affairs Department at Israel’s Embassy in Berlin. He also served as Deputy Chief of Mission for Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania at the Israeli Embassy in Riga and was Charge D' Affaires for Slovakia at the Israeli Embassy in Vienna. Before joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Joel Lion has worked for the JNF-KKL in Jerusalem, as well as the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Lion served in the Israel Defense Forces and attained the rank of Sergeant-Major in the Artillery Corps.

Special Missions

In 1999, he became the first Israeli official to partake in the mission of election monitoring with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

At the start of the second Intifada in 2001, Mr. Lion operated as Spokesman with the MFA special team in Bethlehem.^[7]

During operation "Cast Lead", he worked as director in charge of the MFA Press Center in Sderot.

During the Russian invasion of Ukraine he headed Israel's Emergency Response Team in Moldova, dealing with the Ukrainian refugee crisis.^[8]^[9]

Education

In addition to his diplomatic career, Dr. Lion has an extensive academic background.

He earned a PhD from Ariel University, the subject of his dissertation was: "The Israeli Foreign Service and the Jewish Immigration from the French Protectorates in North Africa (1948-1956)", an M.A. in History from the University of Latvia and a B.A. in Political Sciences from Hebrew University.
He was ordained as an Orthodox Rabbi by Rabbi Dan Channen from Yeshivat Pirchei Shoshanim and by the Chief Rabbi of the city of Holon, Rabbi Eliyahu Yohanan Gur-Arieh
In 1995, he completed the International Training Course in Security Policy of the Federal Military Department of Switzerland, in Geneva.
He is fluent in Hebrew, English, French, German, Luxembourgish, Yiddish and has a good knowledge of Russian.