Naomi Ben-Ami

Born in 1960 in Chernivtsi, Naomi Ben-Ami is one of the most important Israeli diplomats of our time. Her parents come from the Moldovan cities of Bălți and Briceni. She grew up in Chernivtsi and repatriated to Israel with her family in 1973. Naomi majored in international relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 1978–1980, she served in the tank troops of the Israel Defense Forces. Naomi is fluent in Hebrew, English, Russian, Ukrainian, and French.

Naomi Ben-Ami worked at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs until 1990. The 1990s were a busy period for her professional growth. She worked in the commercial department of the Israeli Embassy in Portugal from 1990 to 1992 and then as the second secretary of the diplomatic mission in the Republic of Latvia from 1992 to 1994. She served as a chargé d'affaires ad interim for a year and was recognized as Best Employee of the Foreign Affairs Ministry in 1993. Naomi Ben-Ami was an advisor on political issues at the Israeli Embassy in the Russian Federation in 1996–2000 and an advisor to the Foreign Affairs Ministry's Department of Economic Cooperation in 2002–2003. She headed the Liaison Bureau, also known as Nativ, from 2006 to 2016.

Naomi Ben-Ami was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the State of Israel to Ukraine and concurrently to Moldova in 2003–2006. During her mission in Ukraine, the embassy established and strengthened economic ties with Israel at the state and business levels and boosted cultural relations by supporting exhibitions of young Israeli artists, film festivals, music concerts, and commemorations of Holocaust victims and famous Jewish figures in Ukraine. In 2003, Naomi Ben-Ami participated in the ceremonial laying of the foundation for the future Holocaust and Jewish Community History Museum in Dnipropetrovsk (now Dnipro). The museum was built thanks to the efforts of the Dnipro Jewish Community and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. In 2005, Naomi Ben-Ami sent a congratulatory message on the occasion of the opening of the International Hasidism Center in Chernivtsi.

Naomi Ben-Ami lives in Israel and, together with her husband and family, has actively supported Ukraine, especially since the full-scale Russian invasion. She also makes efforts to commemorate Holocaust victims in Ukraine, particularly those who perished in Babyn Yar.