Simcha Dinitz | |
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שמחה דיניץ | |
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| Faction represented in theKnesset | |
| 1984–1988 | Alignment |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 23 June 1929 |
| Died | 23 September 2003(2003-09-23) (aged 74) |
Simcha Dinitz (Hebrew:שמחה דיניץ; 23 June 1929 - 23 September 2003) was an Israelistatesman and politician. He served as Director General of the Prime Minister's office and political advisor to Prime MinisterGolda Meir from 1969 to 1973, before becoming theIsraeliAmbassador to theUnited States from 1973 to 1979. He had an overlapping appointment as theNon resident Ambassador to the Bahamas[1] During the 1980s he was elected to theKnesset.
Dinitz played a major role in coordinating the weapons shipments to Israel received from the U.S. during theYom Kippur War airlift in 1973, and was a member of the Israeli delegation during theCamp David peace talks withEgypt.
In the1984 elections he was elected to the Knesset on theAlignment's list and served as a member of its Committee for Foreign and Defense Affairs. However, he resigned from the Knesset shortly before the1988 elections.
From 1986 Dinitz served as Chairman of the Executive of theWorld Zionist Organization andJewish Agency for Israel. During his time in office, almost 1 million Jews (about 7% of the entire Jewish population in the world)emigrated to Israel from the Soviet Union and other countries. In addition, he coordinatedOperation Solomon, in which over 14,000Ethiopian Jews were airlifted to safety inIsrael in one day in May 1991.
In 1995, Dinitz was forced to step down after he was indicted for two charges of theft.[2] Dinitz claimed that these were accounting errors, and was tried in the Jerusalem District Court. He was acquitted of one charge and convicted of the other, but the conviction was overturned in an appeal to theSupreme Court of Israel.
Dinitz received his diplomatic training at theEdmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service atGeorgetown University in the United States where he obtained both bachelor's and master's degrees.
A street in theBeit Hakerem neighborhood inJerusalem is named after him.
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