Ambassador Aviva Raz Shechter joined Israel’s Foreign Service more than three decades ago and has since held a wide range of positions in Israel and abroad. From 2016 to 2020, she served as Ambassador and Head of Mission to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva. Upon returning to Israel, she was appointed Special Envoy for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (WPS). Over the past three years, she has served as an instructor at Israel’s National Security College, where she led the foreign policy and diplomacy track.

In 2011, she was appointed Deputy Director General for the Middle East and Peace Process Division, a position she held until her posting to Geneva. Previously, as Director of the Department for Combating Antisemitism and Holocaust Remembrance (2005–2011), she established the Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism (GFCA) and, together with the Chairman of Yad Vashem, headed Israel’s delegation to the International Task Force on Holocaust Remembrance (ITF), now known as IHRA.

From July 2000 to the summer of 2005, she served as Minister-Counselor for Public Diplomacy at the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C. In 1997–1998, she served as Political Counselor at the Embassy of Israel in Amman. Upon returning to Israel, she headed the Lebanon Desk at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Center for Policy Research and was a member of the diplomatic-security team preparing for negotiations with Lebanon, headed by Major General Menachem Einan.

Her first overseas posting was as Deputy Consul General in Montreal, Canada.

Ambassador Raz Shechter holds both a B.A. and an M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies, with honors, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and is a recipient of the Golda Meir Fellowship in the Humanities.

Languages: English, French, Arabic, and German.