Politicsדוד הכהן

David HaCohen

David HaCohen was an Israeli politician and diplomat who served in the Knesset for Mapai and was Israel's first envoy to Burma.

1898 to 1984First Israeli envoy to BurmaMapai Knesset memberDirecting Solel Boneh

Born: 20 October 1898, Gomel
Died: 19 February 1984, Israel
Occupation: politician, diplomat, economist
Party: Mapai
Education: London School of Economics and Political Science
Wars: World War I, World War II

David HaCohen was born in 1898 in Gomel

HaCohen was born in 1898 in Gomel, in the Russian Empire. His father, Mordechai ben Hillel HaCohen, was a Hebrew writer and Zionist activist. The family moved to Ottoman Palestine in 1907, and he studied at Herzliya Hebrew High School.

In World War I he joined the Ottoman Army and completed an officers' course. From 1919 to 1923 he studied economics and law in London.

Back in Palestine he became a director of Solel Boneh and was elected to the Haifa City Council in 1927 and 1934. In World War II he was the liaison between the Haganah and British intelligence, and a secret radio station ran from his Haifa home. In 1946 the British arrested him in Operation Agatha, and that year he married the writer Bracha Habas.

He was elected to the first Knesset in 1949 for Mapai. He left in 1953 to serve as Israel's first envoy to Burma until 1955, then returned to the Knesset and served until 1969. He chaired the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee for many years and died in 1984.