Meron Reuben

Reuben was born in South Africa in 1961 and immigrated to Israel from the United Kingdom in 1974.[1] During his Israel Defense Forces service, he worked as an air traffic controller in the Israeli Air Force.[1] He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Diplomacy and International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.[1]

Reuben’s diplomatic assignments included service at Israeli embassies in Chile and Mexico.[1] He arrived at his Chile posting without knowing Spanish, subsequently learned the language, and appeared in Spanish-language media defending Israeli policy.[4] He served as Israel’s ambassador to Paraguay from 2000 to 2002, Bolivia from 2002 to 2004, and Colombia from 2007 to 2010.[1]

In July 2010, while serving as ambassador to Colombia, Reuben was selected to replace Gabriela Shalev as Israel’s representative at the United Nations in an acting rather than permanent capacity.[5] Shalev had completed two years in the position and wanted to return to Israel.[5] Reuben’s temporary appointment followed a failure by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to agree on a candidate for the post.[6] His UN tenure lasted from 2010 to 2011, between Shalev’s service and that of Ron Prosor, whose term ran from 2011 to 2015.[7]

On October 18, 2010, Reuben delivered his first speech as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations during a Security Council meeting.[8] He said Israel sought peace with the Palestinians based on security and mutual recognition, and argued that direct negotiations and compromise offered the route to an agreement.[8] His statement also addressed settlement construction, Israeli security concerns, and regional threats.[8] A December 10, 2010 U.S. diplomatic country profile listed him as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, as did a 2011 directory of permanent missions.[9][10]

At the Security Council on February 18, 2011, Reuben opposed a draft resolution concerning settlements and argued that direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations were the way to resolve the conflict.[11] He maintained that settlements belonged among the issues to be addressed in final-status negotiations and warned that the debate risked harming efforts to resume talks.[11] Summarizing his emphasis on direct engagement, he said: “The road to peace lies between Jerusalem and Ramallah, which are only 10 minutes apart.”[11]

From 2015 to 2020, Reuben served as Israel’s Chief of State Protocol.[1] The position involved organizing and coordinating official ceremonies for visiting foreign heads of state, prime ministers, foreign ministers, and other ministers.[12] In July 2020, the Foreign Ministry’s appointments committee selected him to become consul general in Boston.[13] He served as consul general to New England from 2020 to 2024.[1]

During his New England tenure, Reuben faced the COVID-19 pandemic, Operation Guardian of the Walls, a rapid succession of Israeli elections, and increasing antisemitic incidents, including after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks.[1] In July 2021, after a Chabad rabbi was attacked, stabbed, and hospitalized, Reuben expressed Israeli officials’ alarm and said they were closely monitoring the situation.[14] “We are horrified by what has happened,” he said, adding: “We are very concerned, and we are following the situation very diligently.”[14]

Reuben also hosted a reception at his home in 2021 for a visiting Sharaka delegation of young Israeli and Emirati leaders.[2] He described such delegations as a means of advancing people-to-people diplomacy and presenting developments in the Middle East following the Abraham Accords to wider audiences.[2] In December 2021, he said an Israeli musician’s lecture tour at Boston-area universities reflected growing interest in Israeli culture and music within the American academic community and beyond.[3]

In August 2023, Reuben continued to hope that he might become Israel’s first ambassador to Saudi Arabia.[15] He was following developments toward normalization with Saudi Arabia and hoped for an opportunity to serve Israel’s interests there.[15]

Over more than three decades, Reuben’s career ranged from embassy assignments in Chile and Mexico to ambassadorial posts in Paraguay, Bolivia, Colombia, and at the United Nations, followed by service as Chief of State Protocol and consul general to New England.[1] His New England work emphasized people-to-people and cultural diplomacy, including engagement with young Israeli and Emirati leaders after the Abraham Accords and support for Israeli cultural programming at Boston-area universities.[2][3] In 2023, he also expressed the hope of serving as Israel’s first ambassador to Saudi Arabia if normalization advanced.[15]

Reuben is the father of two children, Jen and Liad, and is partnered with David.[1] He is passionate about diplomacy and its potential to foster connections between people.[1]

In January 2011, Reuben missed a Security Council session concerning a Palestinian draft resolution condemning Israeli settlements because he was participating in a Foreign Ministry diplomats’ strike.[16] He said he had followed the strike leadership’s instructions and informed relevant diplomats, including the council’s presiding president, that his absence was not political and did not constitute an Israeli boycott.[16] Describing the strike as a professional struggle over diplomats’ working conditions, he nevertheless acknowledged that Israel had lost an opportunity to present its position.[16]

In January 2018, Reuben was reprimanded after publicly discussing the use of “First Lady” for Sara Netanyahu in invitations connected with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence’s visit.[12] He said that Israel had terms for the wife of a prime minister and the wife of a president, but no “First, Second or Third Lady,” and that the Foreign Ministry had not written the invitations.[12] The ministry’s director-general reprimanded him for speaking without prior authorization and asked him not to represent the ministry at official ceremonies pending a review.[12]