Belaynesh Zevadia ( he, בליינש זבדיה; born 1967) is an Ethiopian-born

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i diplomat. She was appointed Israeli ambassador to Ethiopia in 2012 and was the Israeli ambassador to Rwanda.

Biography

Belaynesh Zevadia was born to a Jewish family in the

Gondar Gondar, also spelled Gonder (Amharic: ጎንደር, ''Gonder'' or ''Gondär''; formerly , ''Gʷandar'' or ''Gʷender''), is a city and woreda in Ethiopia. Located in the North Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, Gondar is north of Lake Tana on t ...

region of Ethiopia. She

immigrated Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

to Israel in 1984 at the age of 17, during

Operation Moses Operation Moses ( he, מִבְצָע מֹשֶׁה, ''Mivtza Moshe'') was the covert evacuation of Ethiopian Jews (known as the "Beta Israel" community or "Falashas") from Sudan during a civil war that caused a famine in 1984. Originally called '' ...

. She is a graduate of the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

Diplomatic career

Zevadia was the first immigrant from Ethiopia to enter the Israeli Foreign Service as a trainee, working at Israeli consulate posts in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

and

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. In 2012, she was appointed ambassador to Ethiopia, becoming the first immigrant from Ethiopia to Israel to serve as an Israeli ambassador. By 2016, she was the Israeli ambassador to Rwanda.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zevadia, Belaynesh Ambassadors of Israel to Ethiopia Israeli people of Ethiopian-Jewish descent Ethiopian emigrants to Israel Israeli Jews Israeli consuls Israeli women ambassadors Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Beta Israel Ambassadors of Israel to Rwanda

Biography

Diplomatic career

See also

References