Eliahu Eilat
Eliahu Elath | |
|---|---|
| אליהו אילת | |
 Elath in 1958 as Israeli Ambassador to the UK | |
| 2nd Israeli Ambassador to the United Kingdom | |
| In office 1950–1959 | |
| President | Chaim Weizmann Yitzhak Ben-Zvi |
| Prime Minister | David Ben-Gurion Moshe Sharett |
| Preceded by | Mordechai Ali'ash |
| Succeeded by | Arthur Lurie |
| 1st Israeli Ambassador to the United States | |
| In office 1948–1950 | |
| President | Chaim Weizmann |
| Prime Minister | David Ben-Gurion |
| Succeeded by | Abba Eban |
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 16, 1903 Snovsk, Russian Empire |
| Died | June 21, 1990 (aged 86) |
| Alma mater | University of Kiev |
Eliahu Elath (Hebrew: אליהו אילת), born Epstein (1903–1990)[1] was an Israeli diplomat and Orientalist. In 1948 he became the first Israeli ambassador to the United States, and between 1950 and 1959, he was Israel's ambassadors to the United Kingdom.
Life
He immigrated from Russia to Palestine in 1924, and spent a decade in Beirut as a student and journalist.[2] From 1934 to 1945 he was an "informator" for the Jewish Agency, which eventually evolved into the government of Israel (as described by V. Jacobson in 1934 in “Report on my trip to Eretz Israel and Syria”, 12 May, 1933).[1] That same year he came to the United States as the agency's representative in Washington, D.C., and from 1948 to 1950 he served as the first Israeli ambassador to the United States.[3] Following that appointment he served as the Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1950 to 1959. He was the president of Hebrew University from 1962 to 1968.[1]
During WWII, Elath visited Burma to meet with allied military leaders, including Major-General Orde Wingate. Elath was unaware that Wingate was a nudist and was said to have been "scarred for life by his experience of discussing Zionism for an hour and a half with a completely naked man".[4]
References
- ^ a b c "Eliahu Elath" (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2008-12-20.
- ^ Lyons, Richard D. (1990-06-22). "Eliahu Elath, a Founder of Israel And an Ardent Zionist, 86, Dies". New York Times obituary, 22 June 1990. Retrieved 2009-09-01.
- ^ "Former Ambassadors to the U.S." Embassy of Israel, Washington D.C. Retrieved 2008-12-20.
- ^ Donaldson, p. 652.
Sources
- Donaldson, W. (2002) Brewer's Rogues, Villians & Eccentrics, Cassell: London. ISBN 0 304 35728 6.
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