Politicsיוסף תקוע

Joseph Tekoah

Joseph Tekoah was an Israeli diplomat who served as Israel's ambassador to the United Nations from 1968 to 1975 and later as president of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

1925 to 1991Israel's ambassador to the UNAmbassador to the Soviet UnionPresidency of Ben-Gurion University

Born: 4 March 1925, Liachavičy
Died: 14 April 1991, New York City
Occupation: diplomat, writer
Education: Harvard University

Joseph Tekoah was born in 1925 in Liachavičy

Tekoah was born Yosef Tukaczynski in Lyakhavichy, then in Poland. When he was 5, his family moved to Harbin because of rising antisemitism. The family later moved to Shanghai for business reasons.

He studied law at Aurora University in Shanghai. He earned a master's degree in international relations at Harvard University, where he also taught.

In 1948 he moved to Israel, took the name Tekoah and joined the Foreign Ministry, where he met his wife Ruth. He served as the ministry's legal adviser, head of armistice affairs, and deputy head of the delegation to the UN. He was ambassador to Brazil from 1960 to 1962 and to the Soviet Union from 1962 to 1965.

From 1968 to 1975 he was Israel's permanent representative to the UN. In 1974 he sharply attacked Yasser Arafat at the General Assembly after Arafat's speech there.

He then left the foreign service, settled in Omer and led Ben-Gurion University of the Negev from 1975 to 1981, later becoming its chancellor. He died of a heart attack in New York in 1991 and was buried at Har HaMenuchot. A street in Beersheba is named after him.