Avi Primor

Avi Primor was born in 1935 in Tel Aviv

Avraham "Avi" Primor was born on 8 April 1935 in Tel Aviv to Yosef and Simcha Zelma Halperin. His grandfather, Yaakov Halperin, founded the Zikhron Meir neighborhood in Bnei Brak.

He studied political science and international relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He earned a master's degree in international studies at City College of New York and a DEA from the Sorbonne in Paris.

He joined the Foreign Ministry as a cadet in 1960 and served in Africa and in France. In 1976 he became the ministry's spokesman, and later he was deputy director general for Africa, Asia and Oceania. He was ambassador to the European Union from 1987 to 1993, also covering Belgium and Luxembourg, and ambassador to Germany from 1993 to 1999.

In 1999 he criticized the Shas party in an interview with a German newspaper. Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon reprimanded him, and he had to end his posting.

He later served as vice president of Tel Aviv University and in 2000 was elected president of the Israel-Germany Chamber of Commerce. Since 2010 he has headed the Israel Council on Foreign Relations. In 2014 he published a novel.