Born in Germany in 1913, Rafael immigrates to Palestine in 1934. Serving with the British Army in WWII, Rafael goes onto work with the political department of the Jewish Agency, where he lobbies actively at the UN for the November 1947 Palestine partition vote. Teaming up with Moshe Sharett, and others, he founds Israel’s Foreign Ministry in 1948. Conducting secret meetings with Arab officials, Rafael is head of Middle Eastern and UN affairs from 1953-1957. He represents Israel at the UN during the 1967 war period; he famously confronts Ralph Bunche, who was working with the Secretary General of the UN in late May 1967, and pleads with him to restore the UN forces recently removed from Sinai, seeking to diplomatically tone down the snowballing military confrontation that leads to the outbreak of war in early June 1967. He serves as Director General of Israel’s Foreign Ministry (1968-1972) and Israel’s Ambassador to Britain (1973-1978).
1948
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