Ambassador Arye Mekel is a veteran Israeli diplomat and journalist. He served as political correspondent for the Israeli Army radio and the Israeli Public radio, later serving as their correspondent in the U.S. From 1989 until 1993, Ambassador Mekel served as Director General of the Israeli Broadcasting Authority. Mekel also served as foreign policy advisor to the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. He was posted as Consul General in Atlanta and New York, Ambassador in Greece and Deputy General and spokesperson at the Israeli Foreign Ministry. He now serves as a senior research associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at the Bar Ilan University. Mekel holds a master's degree in mass communication from the Hebrew University and a master's in Sociology from Columbia University.