Yossi Gal

Yossi Gal was born in 1950 in Jerusalem

Yossi Gal was born in Jerusalem in 1950 and grew up there. He earned a bachelor's degree in statistics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

He joined the IDF in August 1968 and served in the Artillery Corps with Battalion 403 after officers' course. He was wounded by Egyptian shell fragments in the War of Attrition, then served as the battalion's intelligence and operations officer. As a reservist he fought in the Yom Kippur War.

Gal entered the foreign service in 1975 and worked at the Israeli embassy in Washington, including as its spokesman from 1985 to 1987. He was spokesman of the Israeli delegation to peace talks from 1991 to 1995 and ambassador to the Netherlands from 1995. As deputy director general for economic affairs from 2001 to 2006, he worked on Israel's entry to the OECD and its ties with the European Union.

He later served as director general of the Foreign Ministry until January 2011, and then as ambassador to France and Monaco until 2015. After leaving the Foreign Ministry, he became a vice president of the Hebrew University for external relations and advancement.