He has roots in Bessarabia. He served as director of INSS from July 2008 to November 2011, following a long career in Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other government positions. In his most recent post before joining INSS, Dr. Eran served as the World Jewish Congress Representative in Israel and the Secretary General of the WIC Israel Branch. World Jewish Congress - Israel preserves and de- velops ties between the Jewish communities in the Diaspora and Israel. Its leadership, comprises representatives of the Jewish andZionist parties in the Knesset. W]C-Israel works together with the Israeli government and Jewish organiza- tions worldwide to fight the delegitimization of Israel in the legal realm, as well as in the media and diplomatic arena. It also works to promote interfaith dialogue, espe- cially with Christian communities in both Israel and abroad on the shared principles of justice, peace and liberty. From 2002-2007, he served as Israel's ambassador to the European Union (covering NATO as wel). Prior to that (1997-2000) he was Israel's ambassador to Jordan, and head of Israel's negotiations team with the Palestinians (1999-2000). Other previous positions include deputy director general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the deputy chief of the Israeli embassy in Washington. Between 2007-2013 he served as an advisor to the Knesset sub-committee on Foreign Affairs. He holds a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics.