Eilat, Eliyahu

Eliyahu Eilat was born July 16, 1903 in the city of Snovsk in the Russian Empire in the family of Menachem Epstein, a timber merchant, and his wife Rebecca ^[1] . He studied in a Heder in Hebrew, then graduated from high school in Russian. After graduating from high school, during the October Revolution he joined the movement of "young Zionists". He went to Kiev to study medicine at Kiev University, was arrested for participating in a forbidden secret Zionist society. After his release, he moved to Moscow, where he joined the organization " Geghulutz ". At the beginning of 1924 he illegally left the USSR ^[2] and repatriated to Palestine in the summer through Latvia ^[3] .

In 1927-1928, Eilat worked in a construction company in Amman , in particular, taking part in restoration work in Amman and Al-Salt after the earthquake of 1927 ^[2] . Then he began to study oriental studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and specialized in Bedouins . Married teacher and artist Zahava Tsalel.

In 1945, he was sent by the leadership of Jewish Yishuv in Palestine to the constituent UN conference as an observer. Later, it was Eliyahu Eilat who transmitted to President Truman the request of the then shadow government of the Jewish state in Palestine for diplomatic recognition, and he became the representative of Israel, who received an official note on recognition from the United States. After that, Eilat was appointed the first ambassador of Israel to the United States; later served as ambassador of Israel to Britain ^[4] .

• David Tidhar. Eliyahu Eilat (Epstein) // Encyclopedia of pioneers and builders of Yishuv = אנציקלופדיה לחלוצי הישוב ובוניו. - 1956. - T. 7. - S. 2897-2899.