Zvi Heifetz

Zvi Heifetz was born in 1956 in Tomsk

Heifetz was born in Tomsk, Siberia, where his family had been exiled from Riga in 1940. His grandfather, Yaakov Yedikin, was executed under Stalin for Zionist activity. The family later returned to Riga, and in 1971 moved to Israel, settling first in Givat HaMoreh and then in Petah Tikva.

He served 7 years in the IDF's Unit 8200 and left as a major. He studied law at Tel Aviv University and was licensed as a lawyer in 1985. His law firm handled international deals linked to the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

In 1999 he became Vladimir Gusinsky's representative in Israel and vice chairman of Maariv Holdings. From 2001 to 2003 he chaired Hed Arzi. After his posting in Britain he represented Len Blavatnik in Israel and sat on company boards.

He was ambassador to the United Kingdom from 2004 to 2007, after the High Court rejected a petition against his appointment. He then served in Austria from 2013, in Russia from 2015, and in China and Mongolia from 2017. Later he was special envoy to the Gulf States and opened missions there following the Abraham Accords.

In 2021 he joined the Tel Aviv University board of governors, and in 2022 the board of Reshet 13. He has 7 children with his late wife Siglia, from their earlier marriages.