Ex Mossad, Shabak, Foreign Minister Reuven Merhav has literally been all over the place, having served in Ethiopia, Kenya, Lebanon and Hong Kong on behalf of the Israeli government, where he had the unique experience of seeing from the inside a half-dozen national security organisations.
As a soldier, he fought in the most elite unit of his time, the Paratroop Reconnaissance Company. Recruited by Shabak, the Internal Security Agency, he focused on counter-intelligence missions in Israel and counter-terror abroad. Seconded to Mossad, Merhav became its East Africa expert, then being promoted on its Global Liaison division when relations with the Lebanese Forces under Bashir Gemayel led into the 1982 War, when he worked for the Defense Ministry and then the Foreign Ministry as a de-facto Ambassador in Beirut before Syria forced the revocation of relations between Lebanon and Israel. He helped launch Jerusalem’s relations with Beijing and was them elevated to Director-General of the Foreign Ministry.
