Moshe Ofer, 86, Served as Israeli Foreign Officer

Moshe Ofer of Jerusalem, Needham and Edgartown, a retired officer of the Israel Foreign Ministry, died Nov. 3, 2006, at the age of 86.

From 1968 to 1972, he served as the Israeli consul-general in Boston.

Born in Germany, Moshe emigrated to Palestine when he was 15, and as a member of the Jewish Youth Movement, worked as a farm laborer until he and a small group founded the Kibbutz Hamadia in the hills above the Jordan Valley. He first came to the United States as an emissary of that movement and then undertook flight training in California.

Upon returning to the newly-born state of Israel, he became a captain in the fledgling Israeli Air Force and flew small planes during the 1948 War of Independence. Later he attended Hebrew University in Jerusalem, ultimately joining the Foreign Ministry.

In 1953, he was appointed vice-consul in New York, where he met and married his wife Aileen in 1954. He was transferred to the Israeli Embassy in Washington as second secretary and principal aide to Ambassador Abba Eban.

His later postings included first secretary-counselor in London, consul-general in Bombay, Zurich and Boston, minister-counselor of embassy in Ottawa, and delegate to the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

His last posting was Israel Minister-Plenipotentiary at The Hague, Netherlands. Between postings he served at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem on the Western European and British Commonwealth desks among others. Following his retirement from the Foreign Ministry, he taught Middle Eastern government and politics at Northeastern University for ten years.

Survivors include his wife; his son David and daughter-in-law Leslie; his granddaughters Gabrielle and Sophia; and in Jerusalem, his brother Yakov and sister-in-law Chava, their children Yael and Nir, and four grandnieces. Funeral arrangements were private.