Sir Hugh Fraeser, one of Israel’s strongest and most influential friends in Britain’s ruling Conservative Party, died here yesterday He was 66 years old.
A member of Parliament for the past 30 years, during which he held several ministerial positions, he helped to found the Conservative Friends of Israel in 1974. He was the first chairman of its Parliamentary group and since 1982 had been the organization’s national president.
Michael Fidler, the organization’s director, described Sir Hugh as “one of Israel’s sincerest and most devoted friends.”
One of Britain’s leading Roman Catholics, Sir Hugh had an outstanding war record, including service in the Dare Devil unit called the Special Air Service.
In World War II he went to the Middle East and joined a special forces unit, nicknamed the Phantoms, which made daring forays behind enemy lines in North Africa and Italy. In 1975, he narrowly escaped death when an Irish terrorist bomb intended for him blew up near his London home.
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