Mordechai Eliash

Mordechai Eliash
מרדכי אליאש
Israeli Ambassador to the United Kingdom
In office
5 April 1949  11 March 1950
Succeeded byEliyahu Elath
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations
In office
14 May 1948  1949
Succeeded byAbba Eban
Personal details
Born1892
Uman, Russian Empire
Died11 March 1950(1950-03-11) (aged 57–58)
London, United Kingdom
Resting placeSanhedria Cemetery, Jerusalem
NationalityIsraeli
ChildrenRachel, Moshe
Education
  • Berlin University
  • Oxford University (B.Litt)
OccupationAttorney, diplomat
Known forFirst Israeli Ambassador to the United Kingdom

Mordechai Eliash (Hebrew: מרדכי אליאש), also spelled Mordecai Eliash, (1892-March 11, 1950) was an Israeli attorney and diplomat. At a time when most Zionists were not observant Jews, and most observant Jews were not Zionists, he quickly became one of the leading lawyers in Mandatory Palestine after his arrival in 1919. Amidst a rise in intercommunal violence, Eliash represented the Jewish community to the Shaw Commission in 1929, the Western Wall Commission in 1930, and the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry in 1946.

After the establishment of the State of Israel, he was briefly the country's first representative to the United Nations, before his service as the first Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1948 until his death in 1950.