Tzuriel Rafael

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Tzuriel Rafael was an Israeli diplomat. He was recalled as the ambassador to El Salvador and non-resident ambassador to Belize, following an incident in early 2007. It was his first ambassadorial posting, following his work for the Israeli foreign service ^[1].

[edit] Background

Rafael was born in the United States in 1952. In 1971 he moved to Israel.^[2]

He studied at the University of Tel Aviv and in 1976 he received his B.A. in political science. Afterwards he served in the Israeli armed forces.

In November 1981 he started working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem. Two years later, in 1983, he was part of the Israeli delegation to the 38th session of the General Assembly at the United Nations.

In July 1990 he was named to serve as Consul for Public Affairs for Israel's Consulate General to the Southwestern United States, based in Los Angeles. He also served in the mid 1990s in Israel's Consulate General in New York as Deputy Consul General.

From 1998 to 2002 he served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the Israeli Embassy to Spain in Madrid.

In 2002 he returned to Jerusalem and worked as the director of the Israeli Information Center, a department of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His main responsibility included the preparation, editing and distribution of informational policy papers published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

[edit] 2007 Incident

On 12 March 2007 it was announced that Rafael would be recalled after being found outside the embassy in San Salvador, drunk, hands tied, and wearing only bondage gear. ^[3]^[4]

Police were able to determine his identity after removing a rubber ball gag from his mouth.