Eliahu Ben Elissar

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Eliahu Ben Elissar
Israeli Ambassador to Egypt
In office 1980 – 1981
Israeli Ambassador to the United States
In office 1996 – 1998
Preceded by	Itamar Rabinovich
Succeeded by	Zalman Shoval
Israeli Ambassador to France
In office 1998 – 2000
Born	August 2, 1932(1932-08-02) Radom, Poland
Died	August 12, 2000 (aged 68) Paris, France
Political party	Herut/Likud
Relations	Yael G. Weinstock, Eitan G. Weinstock, Batya G. Weinstock, Leora G. Weinstock
Alma mater	University of Paris (B.A.), University of Geneva (Ph.D., Political Science)
Occupation	Statesman, Author
Religion	Judaism

Eliahu Ben Elissar
Party	Likud

Eliahu Ben Elissar (Hebrew: אליהו בן אלישר‎, born 2 August 1932 - 12 August 2000) was an Israeli politician and diplomat.

[edit] Biography

Born Eli Gottlieb in Radom, Poland on August 2, 1932, Ben Elissar was the son of a distinguished family. His parents were Eliezer and Hela (nee Dobrzynska) Gottlieb. Eliezer and his brother, Jacob, owned and operated Brago, a successful foundry. Eli was the youngest of three siblings. The eldest, a sister Diana, was born on August 7, 1923, and a brother, Nathan, was born on November 21, 1925.

Ten-year-old Gottlieb immigrated to Mandate Palestine in 1942 with some members of a Radomer family named Graucher using a visa originally obtained for a son who had already been deported by the Nazis. Ironically, the name of the child who perished so that Eli would survive was named Natan Chaim (he gave life). Gottlieb attended the Bilu School in Tel Aviv and subsequently was graduated from the University of Paris (Sorbonne) with a B.A. in Social Sciences and an M.A. in International Law. He served in the Israel Defense Force until 1965. He was granted a Ph.D. in Political Science by the University of Geneva.

Being in Palestine during the latter years of the Holocaust, Ben Elissar did not know the fate of his family until the war's end in 1945. With his father's death in a concentration camp and his mother's demise due to a tragic road accident in Germany, Ben Elissar was orphaned at the age of 14. The effects of the Holocaust were always of great and enduring significance in his life.

In 1947, Ben Elissar's sister, Diana, immigrated to the United States with her new husband, Moshe (Murray) Weinstock. Raising three children, Leo, Allen, and Elaine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Diana remained a steadfast fixture in Ben Elissar's life. Ben Elissar's brother, Nathan, served in the Israel Defence Force during the War for Independence, studied in Vienna, Austria, and emigrated to the United States in 1967 where he served as a cantor for many years. Nathan married Rochelle Kelman, and they had a daughter, Nechama.

Ben Elissar married Diana (nee Dudel), and his second wife was Nitza (nee Efroni). After receiving his doctorate, Ben Elissar became a journalist and then a spokesman for the Herut Party. He was appointed Director-General of the Prime Minister's Office of Menachem Begin in 1977, a position he held until 1980 when he was appointed as Israel's first ambassador to Egypt following the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty.

In 1981 he left his ambassadorial post, and was elected to the Knesset as a member of the Likud Party. During his first Knesset term he chaired the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

He was re-elected in 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996, and again chaired the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee between 1988 and 1992.

Four months after the 1996 elections he left the Knesset to become Israel's Ambassador to the United States. In 1998, he was appointed Israel's Ambassador to France. He authored several books in Hebrew and in French.

He died in Paris on August 12, 2000 due to cardiac arrest. He is buried on the Mount of Olives, Har Hazzetim.

[edit] Bibliography

• La Guerre Israelo-Arabe
• La Diplomatie du Troisieme Reich et les Juifs

[edit] External links

• Eliahu Ben Elissar on the Knesset website

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Itamar Rabinovich	Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. 1996-1998	Succeeded by Zalman Shoval