Rehavam Amir
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Rehavam Amir | |
---|---|
Israeli Ambassador to Finland | |
In office 1979–1982 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Rehavam Zabludovsky January 1, 1916 Vilnius, Lithuania |
Died | April 4, 2013 | (aged 97)
Citizenship | Israel |
Spouse | Avital Brandstatter |
Military service | |
Branch/service | British Army |
Years of service | 1941-1944 |
Rank | Lieutenant |
Unit | Special Operations Executive |
Rehavam Amir (Zabludovsky) (
Biography
Rehavam Zabludovsky (later Amir) was born in Vilnius, Lithuania (then under German occupation). His parents were Malka (née Silman) and Yitzhak-Eliezer Zabludovsky. He studied in a Tarbut High School and continued to the Teachers' College in Vilnius. In 1935, having received an Aliya certificate sponsored by his uncle, the poet Kadish-Yehuda Silman, Rehavam came to Eretz-Israel, then Palestine under the British Mandate. He arrived in Jerusalem and stayed with relatives in the neighborhood of Beit HaKerem. There he completed his studies in the local Teachers' College under the directorship of Ben-Zion Dinur. Upon graduating, Rehavam went to teach in Yavne'el (then a frontier settlement) in Galilee, where he met his wife, Avital Brandstatter. In 1939, he moved to Tel Aviv and taught at the Gretz Elementary School.
Military career
Amir joined the
In 1941, Amir was requested to head a Hagannah communication course held in the Oriental Bazaar in Tel Aviv for members of the Moshe Dayan Network. Participants in the course were taught professional wireless operations by experts such as Peretz Rosenberg. Upon completion of the course, Amir was invited to the home of Eliyahu Golomb, head of the Haganah who told him about the possibility of being sent beyond enemy lines in Europe. He was asked whether he would be willing to go as a British soldier to reach the Jewish communities in occupied Europe.
In the winter of 1941 he was sent to British HQ in
Over the following months there were various delays in carrying out the mission. Only in October 1943, about a month after his marriage to Avital, did his orders come through. Amir boarded a boat from
In the spring 1944, Amir returned to Bari in preparation for his original mission. He was promoted to Lieutenant. During the night of May 12/13, 1944, Lieut. Allan, as Amir was known by his code name, parachuted into the "Fourth Zone", an area south-east of
Looking back upon the tasks Rehavam Amir said:
- We were all of a generation that had been educated to fulfill the missions that were thrust upon us. I do not remember one of our fellow emissaries who looked for publicity or craved a battle. Most of us were young regular guys ... each and every one of us regarded [the mission] as a great privilege and unhesitatingly answered – Yes!
Amir remained in the SHA"I (the Hagannah Intelligence Service), at first in Tel-Aviv and later in Haifa. While in Haifa he was also headmaster of the Reali elementary school. Upon the establishment of the State of Israel in May 1948, he was appointed Military Governor of Acre and the Western Galilee.
Diplomatic career
Rehavam Amir joined the senior ranks of the Foreign Ministry as head of Personnel/Administration. In that capacity he was responsible for the logistically complex operation of transferring the ministry from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem in the summer of 1953. This was carried out in one night with everything - all offices and departments - functioning the following day.
In August 1953, Amir was appointed Israel's Consul-General to the United Kingdom. Together with his wife Avital and daughters Shulamit and Dalia, the family moved to London for five years.
In late 1958, Amir was appointed Head of Israel's Legation to
From 1965 to 1968 Amir served in the
From 1971 to 1975 Amir served as Israel's Ambassador to
In 1975, returning to Israel once again, Amir was appointed Chief of Protocol responsible for official visits of foreign dignitaries: US President Jimmy Carter and Egypt's President Anwar Sadat's historic visit to Jerusalem in 1977. From 1979 to 1982 Amir served as Israel's Ambassador to Finland.
Upon retirement from the Foreign Ministry, Amir continued to be active for many years, voluntarily advising
See also
References
- ^ "Rehavam רחבעם Amir עמיר (Zabludovsky) (1916–2013)". geni.com. 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
- ^ "TERRORISM: Backdown in Bangkok". TIME. 8 January 1973. Archived from the original on 14 December 2008. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
Sources
- Interviews with Avital and Rehavam Amir
- Mission of Hope, Ministry of Defence, 1995, p. 19-28. (in Hebrew)