GOVERNMENT

Yonatan Gonen

Leadership, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Israeli communications expert Yonatan Gonen serves as the head of the Arabic language new media section at Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In that role, Gonen is uniquely positioned to judge the mood of the Arab and wider Muslim world towards Israel, sometimes uncovering surprising results. In June, Gonen reported that the Foreign Ministry was receiving “tens of thousands” of requests on a daily basis from Iranians seeking political asylum in Israel. Gonen explained that many Iranians “see in various publications that Israel leads in various fields of technology and is a free and democratic country.” He added: “Some are also being persecuted in Iran by the authorities. They want to get away and believe that Israel can help them.” (Photo: courtesy)