Farewell to a Patriot

Born in 1920, Tamar Eshel moved to Mandatory Palestine with her parents to Haifa, where she grew up. “Once the Jewish state was established in 1948, she joined Israel’s foreign Ministry, kicking off a successful diplomatic career that led her to work as part of the Israeli delegation at the United Nations.” In 1948 she was sent to Algeria because of her fluency in Arabic where she assisted in organizing “the mass emigration of Algerian and Moroccan Jews.”

She later served in the Knesset following her election in 1977 as a member of the HaMa’arakh Faction (The Alignment) where she served until the 1984 elections.

She married diplomat Arie Eshel, whom she met in New York where she served at the UN and he served as the Consul General. Arie died in 1968 while serving as Israel’s ambassador to Canada.

She continued an active life in civic affairs and causes she believed in, including serving with the women’s organization Naamat as head both locally and internationally.

“Because she was a well versed, intelligent, and riveting orator, Eshel was in high demand in Israel and many countries around the globe, traveling extensively in response to the many invitations she received.”

Tamar Eshel died on her birthday, July 24, 2022, at the age of 102 years.

“May her memory be a blessing.”

(Source: The Times of Israel)