Four nominees of Ambassadorial rank were approved by the Cabinet Sunday in a list of more than 20 selected by Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir for various diplomatic posts around the world. Governments in office are allowed up to 15 political appointees by agreement between the Civil Service Commission and the staff committee of the Foreign Ministry.
Moshe Sasson, a veteran diplomat well versed in the language and culture of the Arab world, was named Israel’s new Ambassador to Egypt. He will replace Eliahu Ben-Elissar who has resigned to run for the Knesset on the Likud ticket. Yitzhak Ben-Ari, another experienced diplomat, will be Ambassador to West Germany, replacing Yohanain Meroz who has served in Bonn for nearly five years.
Eliahu Lankin, a Jerusalem attorney and close political supporter of Premier Menachem Begin will be the new Ambassador to South Africa, taking over from former shin Bet (secret service) chief Yosef Harmelin who has served in Pretoria for the last two years. Yosef Hadass, who served in Cairo for a time as Minister-Counselor under Ben-Elissar has been named Ambassador to Denmark.
Sasson, the senior among them, was formerly Ambassador to Italy and has serve more recently as a “special advisor” to the Foreign Minister on European relations. He is a son of the late Eliahu Sasson who undertook diplomatic missions for the Jewish Agency before the State was founded and later served as a Minister in Cabinets headed by Premier David Ben Gurion.
Ben-Ari has prior experience in Bonn where he served for five years as Minister-Counselor, the No. 2 spot in the Israel Embassy there. Hankin is the only “political appointee” among the prospective Ambassadors. A Herut loyalist of many years standing, he was commander of the vessel Altelena which was sunk on Ben Gurion’s orders when it attempted to land weapons for Begin’s Irgun forces on the beach at Tel Aviv during the early months of Statehood.
Hadass served as head of the Egyptian normalization department of the Foreign Ministry where he oversaw the conclusion of numerous agreements between Israel and Egypt. He had made no secret of his desire to replace Ben-Elissar at the Cairo Embassy but Shamir preferred a more seasoned diplomat for that most sensitive post and decided to send Hadass to Copenhagen.
Formal announcements will be made only after the nominees have been accepted by the countries to which they will be posted.
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