Israel’s New Consul Takes L.A. Post

Eitan Ben Tzur, who takes up his duties today as Israel’s consul general in Los Angeles, is a second-generation Israeli diplomat who has spent much of the last 20 years concentrating on his country’s relations with the United States.

His father, the late Shmuel Ben Tzur, was a pioneer of the new state’s Foreign Ministry, serving in European capitals from Bern, Switzerland, to Budapest, Hungary.

Eitan Ben Tzur, 48, started his foreign service career in Budapest, as a second secretary. That posting ended abruptly in 1967 when Hungary, together with all the Soviet Bloc countries except Romania, severed relations with Israel as a result of the Six-Day War.

Aide to Eban

The younger Ben Tzur then returned to Israel, where he served for the next seven years as a senior aide to Foreign Minister Abba Eban. Relations with the United States were an increasingly important concern during that period, and in 1974 Ben Tzur moved to Washington as chief political officer in the Israeli Embassy.

He returned to Jerusalem in 1981 as director of the North American division of the Foreign Ministry, a post he held until being named consul general in Los Angeles.

The diplomat is a graduate of Hebrew University and the London School of Economics. He had a brief career as a journalist before entering the foreign service. He is married and has three sons.