When he was studying at the university, Dan’s classmates urged him to take a Foreign Service test to see if they could enter a program together at Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). According to Dan, “I didn’t plan at all to become a diplomat. But, after I passed the first exams, I was accepted. So, I said, ‘let’s try that.’ ”
Because of his great interest in languages, Dan’s dream was to become a translator and go to school in Geneva to study that specialty. When he began working at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, he was enrolled in a cadet course. Then, he was offered the opportunity to study in a special program funded by the Rothschild Foundation. Dan was one of five diplomats chosen to increase their skills in higher education. He was sent to Russia as the first Israeli to study at the diplomatic academy there, and received his master’s degree. In 1994, Dan returned to Israel and worked at the MFA in the department dealing with former Soviet Union countries. Subsequently, he was offered a diplomatic position in Russia as Israel’s Cultural Attaché.
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ISRAEL'S DIRECTOR OF BALKAN STATES
MAYIM MAGAZINE
However, Dan was not pleased: “At the time it was the only vacancy. I was upset and planning to leave the Foreign Ministry. I was trained and mastered in politics and foreign policy in Russia. I wasn’t trained for culture.”
Dan then met with the head of Human Resources at the Foreign Ministry. They explained that the MFA had invested in Dan’s future by sending him to Russia to study.