Daniel Taub

Biography

Daniel Taub was born and raised in the United Kingdom. He attended secondary school at the Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School in Elstree, Hertfordshire, and thereafter studied at University College, Oxford, University College, London and Harvard University. Taub moved to Israel in 1989. He served as a combat medic in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and subsequently as a reserve officer in the IDF's international law division. Soon after arriving in Israel, Taub worked as speechwriter for President Chaim Herzog. He joined the Israeli Foreign Ministry in 1991.

Taub and his wife Zehava have six children, who performed a song together at a party in honour of Israel's 64th birthday.

Diplomatic career

Taub has held many diplomatic, legal and political posts in the Israeli Foreign Ministry. He is an expert in international law, with specialisations in counter-terrorism and the laws of war. As Principal Deputy Legal Advisor of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Taub served as legal adviser to Israel's missions to the United Nations in New York and Geneva, and represented Israel in many multilateral fora.

Taub was extensively involved in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, helping negotiate many of the agreements reached between the two sides, and heading the Israeli side of the Culture of Peace track of negotiations, travelling with his Palestinian counterpart to Northern Ireland to learn from the experience there. He was also a member of Israel's negotiation team in the Israel-Syrian negotiations. He headed Israel's observer delegation to the International Court of Justice hearings on Israel's security barrier, represented Israel before the UN investigative committee on the Gaza flotilla incident, and negotiated the entry of Israel's Red Cross society, Magen David Adom, into the International Red Cross Movement, after 70 years of exclusion.

Ambassador to the UK

In 2011, Taub was appointed Ambassador to the Court of St James's Despite some objections from the Foreign Ministry union that he was junior for the position, colleagues praised the appointment as an "inspired and worthy choice". Taub is the second UK-born Israeli ambassador to Britain. When he presented his credentials, the Queen asked him how it felt to be serving as ambassador in the land of his birth. He replied: "I said that I felt tremendously privileged that it fell to me to raise my children in their historic homeland after two millennia of exile, but I am also aware that in that arc of 2,000 years the greatest period of opportunity for my family was found here in Britain, and I hope to express my appreciation for that by deepening ties of cooperation between our countries."

Placing a strong emphasis on trade and technology links, Taub introduced the Bizcamp start-up competition in conjunction with Google and was nominated for the Grassroot Diplomat Initiative Award for developing business and trade. Between the years 2011 and 2013, UK-Israel bilateral trade increased to $8 billion.

Taub has also placed a clear focus on cross-cultural and interfaith activity, and has been invited to teach Bible and Hebrew study classes in Westminster Abbey and at the Church of England Synod. His outreach has included many cultural events reaching out to ethnic and cultural groups hosted jointly with other ambassadors, as well as outreach to the UK Israeli community, in line with his philosophy that Israel is a house with many doors.

Taub is a lecturer and public speaker, known for his humour. He has been interviewed widely on television including on Hardtalk, CNN, Newsnight, Sky News, and the BBC Radio 4's Today programme, and was the first Israeli Ambassador to be interviewed on the BBC Persian service. He also lectures widely in universities and policy institutes in Israel and abroad. He has responded to occasional demonstrations against Israeli speakers at some British universities by increasing the number of embassy university visits, insisting that "when extremist elements try to silence us, our response must be to be even more active reaching out and making our case".

Having grown up in the UK, Taub has a close relationship with the British Jewish community, and was responsible for envisaging the Closer to Israel programme adopted by Jewish community for Israel's 65th anniversary. He is a popular lecturer at the annual Limmud conference.

In addition to serving as Ambassador to the UK, in March 2013 Taub became Israel's first Ambassador to the International Maritime Organization which is based in London. Taub's appointment as Ambassador ended in 2015, and he returned to Israel. It was later reported that British security officials had complained to the embassy about "security breaches" at his home which meant that they were no longer able to offer him effective security. The Israeli Foreign Ministry conducted an internal enquiry into the reports, and concluded that "there had been a breach of security protocol" but there had been no "criminal or disciplinary wrongdoing."

Awards

In January 2013, Taub was awarded the Grassroot Diplomat Initiative Honouree for supporting young start-ups and entrepreneurs.

Media career

Taub writes frequently on Israel and the Middle East, including articles appearing in The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, and the Huffington Post.

Taub wrote Parasha Diplomatit, a book of diplomatic insights on biblical texts. He was also the creator and chief scriptwriter of an Israeli drama series, Hechatzer, set in an ultra-orthodox Hasidic sect. The series, described by Taub as "a cross between Dallas and the Chosen" set out to break down stereotypes of secular and religious in Israeli society.