Yehuda Lancry
Dr Yehuda Lancry is a former Israeli politician and ambassador to France and the United Nations.
Born in Boujad in Morocco, Lancry studied at an alliance high school in Casablanca. He made aliyah to Israel in 1965 and gained a PhD in French literature from the University of Haifa and University of Nice Sophia Antipolis. Between 1983 and 1992 he served as head of the local council of Shlomi, and from 1991 until 1992 was chairman of Second Israeli Broadcasting Authority. He was appointed Israel's ambassador to France in 1992, serving until 1995. In 1996, Lancry was elected to the Knesset on the Likud-Gesher list and served as a Deputy Speaker of the Knesset and chairman of the Ethics committee.
He lost his seat in the 1999 elections, but was appointed ambassador to the United Nations that year, serving until 2002. That same year, on 10 April 2002, Lancry's niece, Noa Shlomo, was killed in the suicide bombing of Egged bus #960 en route from Haifa to Jerusalem.
