Moshe Yegar

In between assignments abroad, Yegar served in the Ministry's Headquarters in Jerusalem in senior positions: Head of the Information Department (Hasbara, in Hebrew) (1975 - 1978); Deputy Director General and Head of the Division for Information and Communication (1980 - 1985); Deputy Director General in charge of Asia, Africa, and Oceania (1990 - 1993). Yegar showed his capabilities as organizer of large complicated festivities, on two special occasions: (a) While in his service in New-York, Yegar chaired the 40th Anniversary public committee which organized a mammoth celebration attended by thousands; (b) While in Prague, Yegar organized "the Old Testament in the Arts Festival, October 1955", which included scores of musical, theatrical events, exhibitions, films and symposia.

In 1956, Yegar joined Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs where he served until his retirement in November 1995. Among his posts abroad, he served at the Embassy of Israel in Rangoon, Burma (now known as Yangon, Myanmar); as Consul at Israel's Consulate General in Los Angeles (1966 - 1969); as Consul General in Philadelphia (1969 - 1972); as Consul General in New-York (1985 - 1988); as Ambassador in Stockholm (1988 - 1990); and as Ambassador in Prague (1994 - 1995). Also, in 1965, Yegar was sent to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which had no diplomatic relations with Israel, to open semi-diplomatic presence under cover of a business office. After one year, Yegar was requested to close the office and move out of Malaysia.

Moshe Yegar (Hebrew: משה יגר; born 30 October 1930, Buenos Aires) is an Israeli retired diplomat and historian of Islam in Southeast Asia; also, he is author of books and research articles on the history of Zionism during the British Mandate, and about Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its policies and activities.

Yegar's father, Jacob Yegar, was born in 1902 in Galinianitz, a small town in Galicia (Eastern Europe). He studied in the Jewish Seminar for Teachers in Lvov and became a teacher for Jewish subjects. In 1929, he married Chava Klein and together they moved to Buenos Aires, where, a year later, they had their son, Moshe. Jacob Yegar, his brother-in-law Moshe Klein and a local teacher, established the first Hebrew school, named in honor of Hayim Nahman Bialik, in Buenos Aires, Argentine. The school has existed ever since. In 1935, the Yegar's family immigrated to Eretz-Israel and settled in Haifa. Yegar went to the Hebrew Reali School of Haifa. He continued his studies at the Hebrew university in Jerusalem where he received his B.A, M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. He specialized in the History of Islamic Peoples. In the years 1946 - 1948, Yegar was a member in the Hagana , the largest paramilitary Jewish organization in the British mandate; later on, in the years 1949 - 1955, he served as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces, the military forces of Israel, and was discharged with a rank of Major.