Ambassador Zion Evrony was born in Iran and immigrated with his family to Israel in 1950, when he was one year old. He spent his childhood in a ma'abarah (refugee camp), without electricity or running water. With his father unemployed, the family endured severe poverty. At age 13, Evrony was admitted to a Jerusalem boarding school for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. He went on to receive a B.A. in sociology and political science, an M.B.
A, and a Ph.D. in international relations from Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 1973, he joined Israel's Foreign Service and held distinguished positions in Jerusalem and abroad, including Ambassador to Ireland, Ambassador to the Holy See, Consul General in Houston, and Consul in New York. He also served as Head of the Policy Planning Division and Director of the Cadet Course for new diplomats. In 2001, he received Awards for Excellence from both Israel's Foreign Ministry and its Civil Service. From 1991 to 1995, Ambassador Evrony taught at the Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University, and the Open University of Israel. Since his retirement, he has been an adjunct professor at universities in the United States, where he teaches courses on diplomacy, Israeli foreign policy, Judeo-Christian relations, and the Holocaust.
Among his publications are H uman Rights in International Relations (Hebrew; Open University Press, 2011) and Jewish-Catholic Dialogue (ed., Urbaniana University Press, 2016). He has also written opinion pieces for the New York Times and other papers focusing on the war in Gaza, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Judeo-Christian relations.