Eliahu Ben-Elissar, who was Israel’s first Ambassador to Egypt, was elected by Herut today to be chairman of the Knesset’s powerful and prestigious Foreign Affairs and Security Committee. He succeeds Moshe Arens, Israel’s Ambassador-designate to the United States.
Ben-Elissar won the post in a secret ballot by Herut’s Knesset faction over Herut MK Yosef Rom, reportedly by a narrow margin. He said later that he had been given “a heavy responsibility”but was confident that his 15 years of experience in defense and foreign policy matters would help him handle it.
Ben-Elissar, 49, a protege of Premier Menachem Begin, served in Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, before joining Herut in the early 1970s. After the Likud victory in the 1977 elections, Begin appointed him Director General at the Prime Minister’s office and in that capacity he headed the first Israeli peace delegation to Cairo.
He was appointed Israel’s envoy to Egypt after the peace treaty was signed in 1979. He resigned that post last year and was elected to the Knesset in the June, 1980 elections.
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