Eliyahu Sasson (; 2 February 1902 – 8 October 1978) was a

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

, member of the

Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

and minister in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

Biography

Education

Sasson was born in

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

Ottoman Syria Ottoman Syria () is a historiographical term used to describe the group of divisions of the Ottoman Empire within the region of the Levant, usually defined as being east of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the Euphrates River, north of the Ara ...

. He studied at an

Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or sovereign state, states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an a ...

School in his hometown, went to high school at the prestigious "Alezaria"

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

high school in Damascus alongside Christians and Muslims of the

upper class Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status. Usually, these are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper cla ...

and graduated from the

Université Saint-Joseph Saint Joseph University of Beirut (; French: ''Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth'', commonly known as USJ) is a private Catholic research university in Beirut, Lebanon, founded in 1875 by French Jesuit missionaries and subsidized by the Go ...

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

Zionist activity within the framework of the Syrian National Movement

In his youth, starting in 1918, he worked as part of the Syrian National Movement and under the patronage and funding of King Faisal, he published an Arabic newspaper called "Al Hayat" and edited it to promote "understanding and cooperation in the Middle East between Jews and Arabs". At the same time he engaged in

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

activity, and led struggles of the younger generation in Damascus to give a Hebrew-Zionist tone to the Jewish Community Committee and its schools. He wrote many articles on this topic for Hebrew newspapers published in

such as

Do'ar HaYom ''Do'ar HaYom'' () also known as the ''Palestine Daily Mail'', was a Hebrew-language newspaper that ran in the British Mandate for Palestine from 1919 to 1936 and was edited by Itamar Ben-Avi. At its peak, the daily circulation of the newspa ...

. In the years 1919-1920 he was involved in establishing and editing a newspaper called "Al-Sharq" (The East), a Zionist newspaper in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

that was published in Damascus for a short period. In the years 1922-1927, he fled from the

French Mandate The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon (; , also referred to as the Levant States; 1923−1946) was a League of Nations mandate founded in the aftermath of the First World War and the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire, concerning the territori ...

authorities and lived in the city of

Mersin Mersin () is a large city and port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of Mediterranean Region, Turkey, southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of the Mersin Province (formerly İçel). It is made up of four district governorates ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Through journalistic writing, he maintained contact with Faisal's camp "which tried to preserve the embers of Arab nationalism and called for the elimination of the imperialist factor and the establishment of an Arab state

Intelligence and political activity until the end of the War of Liberation

In 1927 Sasson Aliyah, immigrated to Mandatory Palestine, where he worked as a

laborer A laborer ( or labourer) is a person who works in manual labor typed within the construction industry. There is a generic factory laborer which is defined separately as a factory worker. Laborers are in a working class of wage-earners in whic ...

, and at the same time engaged in public activity as a

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

Middle Eastern The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

affairs. After years of independent activity while criticizing the Yishuv establishment regarding the treatment of Arabs and deprivation of the Jews of Arab countries, he became a member of the

Jewish Agency The Jewish Agency for Israel (), formerly known as the Jewish Agency for Palestine, is the largest Jewish non-profit organization in the world. It was established in 1929 as the operative branch of the World Zionist Organization (WZO). As an ...

. Between 1934-1948 he headed the agency's Arab department, issuing a daily report on the Palestinian Arab press and background papers based on analysis of the Middle East press and meetings with Arab leaders. He was also engaged in intelligence gathering, and among other things recruited in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Yolande Harmer Yolande Harmer (born Yolande Gabbai, ; 1913–1959) was an Israeli intelligence officer who operated in Egypt in 1948. She was recruited due to her connections in elite and royal circles and she has been described as "Israel's Mata Hari". Biogr ...

, a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

born in

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

, who carried out

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...

missions for the agency and worked for

French intelligence This is a list of current and former French intelligence agencies. Currently active *DGSE: Directorate-General for External Security – '' Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure''. It is the military foreign intelligence agency, whi ...

and the interests of the

Yishuv The Yishuv (), HaYishuv Ha'ivri (), or HaYishuv HaYehudi Be'Eretz Yisra'el () was the community of Jews residing in Palestine prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. The term came into use in the 1880s, when there were about 2 ...

and the State of Israel on the eve of the

War of Independence Wars of national liberation, also called wars of independence or wars of liberation, are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) ...

, during which the

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

Jamil Mardam Jamil Mardam Bey (; ; 1895–1960), was a Syrian politician. He was born in Damascus to a prominent aristocratic family of Turkish origins. He is a descendant of the Ottoman general, statesman and Grand Vizier Lala Mustafa Pasha and the penultim ...

. With the establishment of the state, he was appointed director of the Middle East Department at the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

. Before that he was a member of the delegation to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

(1947-1948). In 1948 and 1949 he was a member of the Israeli delegations to the armistice talks at the end of the War of Independence with Egypt and

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. He was then a member of the delegation to the Lausanne Conference, and later headed the delegation (1949).

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Israeli Governments

While in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sasson served as the head of the special office in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

for relations with the Arabs, Israel's

chargé d'affaires A (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador. The term is Frenc ...

to Turkey (1950-1952), Israel's chargé d'affaires and

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

(1953-1960) and Israel's Ambassador to

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

(1960-1961). In 1961 he returned to Israel in order to join

David Ben-Gurion David Ben-Gurion ( ; ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary List of national founders, national founder and first Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister of the State of Israel. As head of the Jewish Agency ...

's government as Post Office Minister. He also held this position under the Levy Eshkol government until the beginning of January 1967, when he was appointed Minister of Police in place of Bachor-Shalom Sheetrit who retired for health reasons. As the post minister, he opposed the recommendations of a committee headed by Zvi Dinstein that recommended transferring the telephonye services in Israel to a company whose

shares In financial markets, a share (sometimes referred to as stock or equity) is a unit of equity ownership in the capital stock of a corporation. It can refer to units of mutual funds, limited partnerships, and real estate investment trusts. Sha ...

would initially be in the hands of the government, because of concern for the employees, and therefore the recommendations were not implemented. He served as Police Minister until the end of 1969, under Levi Eshkol and

Golda Meir Golda Meir (; 3 May 1898 – 8 December 1978) was the prime minister of Israel, serving from 1969 to 1974. She was Israel's first and only female head of government. Born into a Jewish family in Kyiv, Kiev, Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine) ...

. Upon Sassoon's entry into the position, he was given a position lacking authority and led a struggle to transfer authority from the police to the Ministry of National Security. In addition, Sasson pushed for the transfer of the Police National Headquarters to Jerusalem. In 1965 Sasson was elected to the Sixth Knesset on behalf of the Alignment Party and in 1969 was re-elected to the Seventh Knesset. During his years of office, he was a member of the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, the Interior Committee, and the Labor Committee.

His views of Israel after the Six day War

A few days after the end of the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

, as a minister in the first unity government led by Levi Eshkol, he took on the role of 'Rebuker at the gate' and in a series of comprehensive background memos for the government meetings (June 1967-July 1968), alongside his public appearances in the Knesset plenum, in party forums and lectures, He preached to launch an Israeli initiative whose main purpose is to take advantage of the results of the war - the occupied territories, Judea and Samaria and the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

, to solve the problem of

refugees A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

from among the Arabs of the Land of Israel. He believed that direct negotiations with the representatives of the Arab population in the Land of Israel would at the very least lead to peace with them, if within the framework of

Transjordan Transjordan may refer to: * Transjordan (region), an area to the east of the Jordan River * Oultrejordain, a Crusader lordship (1118–1187), also called Transjordan * Emirate of Transjordan, British protectorate (1921–1946) * Hashemite Kingdom o ...

with an agreement and cooperation with

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

, or if within the framework of the West Bank only - an independent Palestinian state or an autonomous Palestinian unit that will be bound by agreements with Israel, and would be likely to neutralize the root of the Israeli - Arab conflict and the main weapon of confrontation in the hands of the Arab world against the State of Israel. In 1970 he warned that the annexation of the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

, with the

demographics Demography () is the statistical study of human populations: their size, composition (e.g., ethnic group, age), and how they change through the interplay of fertility (births), mortality (deaths), and migration. Demographic analysis examin ...

at that time, would turn Israel into a bi-national state. Sasson died in October 1978 at the end of a serious illness that had confined him to bed for several years and had forced him to retire from his position as Minister of Police. He was buried Har HaMenuchot in a funeral attended by thousands.

Family

From 1921 until his death he was married to Julia (Yael) née Zagol-Levi. The two were parents of three daughters and a son. His daughter Rina married Raphael Levy, who served as the head of the Jerusalem district in the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

, his son Moshe Sasson was a

, who served among other things as

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

and as ambassador to

, his daughter Ora married Aviad Yaffeh, a diplomat and member of the Knesset.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sasson, Eliyahu 1902 births 1978 deaths Alignment (Israel) politicians Ambassadors of Israel to Italy Ambassadors of Israel to Switzerland Jews from the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon Members of the 6th Knesset (1965–1969) Members of the 7th Knesset (1969–1974) Ministers of communications of Israel Ministers of public security of Israel People from Damascus People of the Jewish Agency for Israel Sephardi Jews from Ottoman Palestine Sephardi Jews from Ottoman Syria Israeli people of Syrian-Jewish descent Immigrants of the Fourth Aliyah Burials at Har HaMenuchot Israeli Labor Party politicians