Mattanya Cohen

Biography

Cohen served in the Israeli armed forces and attained the rank of captain. After completing his military service he studied International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 1991, he graduated and began working in the Israeli Foreign Ministry. From 1993 to 1996, he served as Second Secretary at the Israeli Embassy in Lima and then 1996–1999 First Secretary at the Israeli embassy in Nicosia. From 1999 to 2001, Cohen was counselor for the Middle East in the economic department of the Israeli Foreign Ministry where he was responsible for the development of economic relations between Israel, the Arab countries and the Palestinian Authority.

His next post led Cohen to Miami, where he worked from 2001 to 2005 as an Israeli consul to Florida and Puerto Rico. In 2005, he became deputy director of the South America Dep. in the Israeli Foreign Ministry and in 2006 he was appointed to head the department of Central America and the Caribbean. As such, he represented Israel at the general meetings of the Organization of American States in 2005 in Florida and 2006 in Santo Domingo.

In July 2007, Cohen was appointed Israeli Ambassador to El Salvador and Belize, replacing Tzuriel Refael, who was recalled. He returned to Israel in July 2011 and has been appointed director of training department of Mashav in the Israeli forgien ministry. Mattanya Cohen has a wife and 2 kids currently.