Israel’s former ambassador to Ghana has taken on the role of the new deputy ambassador to London.

Sharon Bar-Li started work yesterday, the embassy said.

Ambassador Mark Regev welcomed his new deputy on Twitter. He wrote: “Welcome to London @SharonBarli, Israel's new Deputy Ambassador at @IsraelinUK.”

Ms Bar-Li has spent the last year and a half as director of economic affairs for the Middle East, Africa and Latin America at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Prior to that she spent 14 months as ambassador to Liberia, which followed four years of being ambassador to Ghana.  For both positions, she was based in Ghana.

Under Ms Bar-Li, the embassy in Ghana reopened following 38 years in which there was no official Israeli representation in that country.

Her impressive CV also includes diplomatic roles in Turkey, Australia and Uzbekistan.

According to her profile on LinkedIn, Ms Bar-Li was deputy head of mission in Ankara for five years, consul at the Sydney Consulate and deputy chief of mission at Israel’s embassy in Uzbekistan.

In one of her first public engagements in Britain, Ms Bar-Li attended an event at the Houses of Parliament organised by the Simon Wiesenthal Center and UNESCO. The new deputy ambassador gave a speech at People, Book, Land: the 3,500 year relationship of the Jewish People with the Holy Land. 

Also in attendance were Sir Eric Pickles, the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey, MPs and peers. A spokesman for the Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) tweeted: “Deputy Ambassador @SharonBarli is welcomed for the first time in #HousesofParliament, ‘Honour to be speaking in heart of British democracy’.”

Ms Bar-Li replaces Eitan Na’eh, who was appointed as Israel’s ambassador to Turkey.