Funeral services took place Sunday for Dr. Binyamin Eliav, once a close associate of Zev Jabotinsky and later an active member of Mapai. Dr. Eliav died Thursday in Petah Tikva at the age of 65. Born in Riga, Dr. Eliav was a founder of Betar. After Jabotinsky’s death and after he learned of the scope of the holocaust. Dr. Eliav tried to unite the Jews in Palestine and urged a merger of the Irgun and the Hagana. This did not materialize and Dr. Eliav broke with the Irgun in opposition to the policies of its new leader, Menachem Beigin.
After World War II, he founded the “People’s Movement” and won a seat on the Jewish Representative Assembly. After the establishment of the State of Israel he joined the government service, serving as First Secretary in Buenos Aires and as Consul General in New York. He was deputy chairman of the Broadcasting Authority for some time and headed the Government Information Services. During the past 10 years, despite illness, Dr. Eliav devoted his energies to the Encyclopaedia Judaica, of which he was an editor. He also wrote and translated books on the Soviet Union and the fate of Soviet Jews.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
