Moshe Pearlman

Moshe Pearlman was born in 1911 in London

Pearlman was born Maurice Pearlman in London in 1911. His father Lipman was born in Minsk, and his mother Rivka was born in England to a family of immigrants from Poland.

He studied at the London School of Economics under Harold Laski and earned a B.Sc. He taught at a London college and worked part time for the London General Press news agency, and later left academia for journalism.

In 1936 his agency sent him to cover the Arab revolt in the Land of Israel. He arrived with anti-Zionist views, but visits to kibbutzim such as Ein Harod changed his mind and he became a Zionist. Back in London he became press officer of the Zionist Organization and editor of the Zionist Review.

In World War II he served in the British Army and reached the rank of major. After the war he was an assistant press attaché at the British embassy in Athens, where he secretly helped organize Jewish immigration. From 1948 to 1952 he was the first Israeli military spokesman.

He later headed the Government Press Office and the Kol Israel broadcasting service, and served as Israel's ambassador to Congo. In 1960 he retired to write books on Israel, its history and archaeology. He died in 1986.