Menahem Kanafi was born in 1966, New York City, United States of America. He was awarded the Bachelor of Laws Degree LL.B. from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1989.
In 1989 he joined the Israel Defence Corps as a Military Advocate – General's Corps and was honourably discharged with rank of Captain in 1993. Mr. Kanafi was called to the Israel Bar in 1990. He joined and completed the Political Cadet Course from Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the years 1993-1995.
He served as a second secretary in the years, 1995-1998 at the Embassy of Israel in Harare, Zimbabwe. He was posted as the First Secretary to the Director of Public Diplomacy in the Embassy of Israel, Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany in 1998 for three years.
In the year 2001, he joined as a Deputy Director in the Department for UN Political Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs until 2005. He went to the State of Eritrea, Asmara and served as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Israel from 2005 to 2008.
Later in 2008 he was appointed as the Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Israel, Ankara, Turkey. He took over as Chargé d'Affairs and Head of Mission, at the Embassy of Israel, Accra, Ghana in the year 2010. He also served as a director at the Southern African Affairs Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Presently, Mr. Kanafi serves as a Consul General, Consulate General of the State of Israel for Southern India, Bangalore, India since 2012. In his current appointment Mr. Kanafi is in charge of the Israel-Indian ties with the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.