Amira Oron... 1st Israeli Female Ambassador to Egypt

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has approved the appointment of Amira Oron to be the first female ambassador to Egypt, according to Israeli media. 

The national Hebrew-language Maariv newspaper confirmed that the appointment of Oron came after the agreement of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, to succeed Ambassador David Govrin who held the position since 2016, according to the Russian newspaper Sputnik.

The Israeli daily newspaper reported that Oron was chosen to fill the same position, in October 2018, but the decision was not endorsed by the government, after nominating more than one figure for the high diplomatic position, including Ayoub Qara, the former Minister of Communications.

“Foreign ministry has assigned Amira Oron as Israel’s ambassador to Egypt. She worked as a spokeswoman of Israeli foreign ministry addressing Arab media before promoting her to be the chairperson of the Egyptian media department,” Israeli Prime Minister Spokesperson Ofir Gendelman announced on October 30, 2018.

Who Is Amira Oron?

Oron will be the first woman to serve as the Israeli ambassador to Egypt, since the signing of the Egyptian-Israeli peace agreement in 1979.

She has previously served in Cairo and Ankara and headed the Foreign Ministry’s Egypt pision. She currently heads the ministry’s Middle East Economic Relations Department.

Oron served as ambassador to Turkey from 2014 to 2016, though after the Mavi Marmara flotilla raid, “Turkey lowered the status of Israel’s ambassador to that of an embassy officiaL.” Oron was the first female to head an embassy in Turkey.

She is fully aware of all the Israeli embassy’s affairs and manner of work in Cairo, in addition to her studies related to Islamic and Middle Eastern affairs. It’s noteworthy that she speaks Arabic as well.

Oron is the second woman to serve as an Israeli ambassador in an Arab state. Einat Klein was the first when she was Israel's top diplomatic representative in Jordan. 

She began working in the diplomatic corps in 1991 and occupied several positions, including the deputy director of the media department in the Arab world at the Israeli Embassy in Egypt.