Dan Ashbel

Dan Ashbel was born in 1949 in Tel Aviv

Dan Ashbel was born in Tel Aviv in 1949. He studied geography and English literature at the University of Haifa. He later earned a master's degree in political science with a focus on the Middle East.

From 1973 to 1975 he taught at the Kfar HaNoar HaDati school in Kfar Hasidim. In 1975 he joined Israel's foreign service. He served in Bonn as First Secretary for press and culture, then as deputy press spokesman in Jerusalem.

He later served at the embassies in Austria and London, and took part in the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference. In the 1990s he handled cooperation with Central Asian countries and taught at the National Defense College. From 1997 to 2000 he was Consul General in Philadelphia.

From 2005 to 2009 he was ambassador to Austria and also represented Israel at the OSCE and UN bodies in Vienna. He then became political advisor to the Knesset. From 2011 to 2016 he was ambassador to Finland and Estonia, and he retired in 2016.

He is married to Zehava, and they have three sons.