Gil Lainer is Consul for Public Diplomacy at the Consulate General of Israel in New York.

Prior to his arrival in New York, Gil was a counselor in the Bureau for Middle East Economy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem, where he worked to establish Israel’s current policy on humanitarian aid and projects in the Gaza Strip under the direction of the MFA Director General. He also served as MFA liaison to the IDF in coordinating and implementing this revised policy.

In 1998, after joining the Ministry and while still a diplomatic cadet, he was posted to the Israeli Embassy in Lagos, Nigeria as Second Secretary and later Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé D'affaires. He was then appointed to the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco, as Deputy Consul General to the Pacific Northwest. In this position he dealt extensively with media relations and public diplomacy.

From 2002 to 2004 Gil worked at the Ministry’s North American Division, where he was desk officer for Israel’s consulates in the United States.

Gil took a leave of absence from the Ministry in 2006 to serve as the Aliyah emissary (“Shaliach”) for Montreal and eastern Canada. During his time in office over 120 people made emigrated from Montreal to Israel. On the last day of the Second Lebanon war, Gil was privileged to lead a special Aliyah flight, organized by the Jewish Agency for Israel and Nefesh B’Nefesh, with over 200 new Canadian immigrants to Israel.

Before beginning his diplomatic career, Gil worked in the private sector as an account executive for a Tel Aviv public relations firm, representing primarily Hi-Tech companies. Prior to that, he was as a reporter, producer and editor-in-chief in the news section at Israel’s largest commercial radio station, 103 FM Tel Aviv.

Gil served in the military intelligence apparatus of the Israel Defense Forces, and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Media Studies and Management from the School of Media Studies at The College of Management in Tel Aviv.

Gil resides in Givatayim, a suburb of Tel Aviv. He is married to Sharon, also a career diplomat. They have two kids, Ori and Noam.