Jacob Tsur

Jacob Tsur was born in 1906 in Vilnius

Jacob Tsur was born in Vilna in 1906 as Jacob Tchernowitz, son of Bella and Samuel Tchernowitz. He grew up in a Zionist home and lived in Vilna and Warsaw. During World War I his family moved through Pinsk, Kyiv, Moscow and Omsk, and in 1921 they settled in the Land of Israel.

He attended the Hebrew Gymnasium Rehavia in Jerusalem and then studied at the University of Florence. Later he studied literature, sociology and Semitic languages at the Sorbonne in Paris. From 1926 to 1929 he was acting editor of the weekly HaOlam.

In 1929 he returned, worked as night editor at Haaretz and joined the Jewish National Fund. During World War II he was based in Cairo as a liaison officer between the Haganah, the Jewish Agency and the British army. He helped organize the Jewish Brigade in Egypt.

After the state was founded he became Israel's first envoy to several South American countries, including Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile. In 1953 he was named ambassador to France, a period of closer ties and French arms sales to Israel. He held the post until July 1959 and received the Legion of Honor.

He then served as acting director general of the Foreign Ministry. In 1960 he became chairman of the Jewish National Fund and served until 1976, and from 1961 to 1968 he chaired the Zionist Executive Council. He died in 1990, and a street in Jerusalem bears his name.