National Affairs: The Israeli Ambassador

The man with the job of getting U.S. arms for Israel is Abba Eban, 40, for five years Israeli ambassador to Washington.

Patient and persuasive, Abba Eban is rated highly by the U.S. and foreign diplomats who work with him. Sympathizers to Israel consider him one of the five ablest diplomats in Washington; opponents call him a nuisance or a menace, but none dispute his cleverness. "Eban is super-able," said one diplomat, a neutral. "He fences a beautiful duel with words."

Abba Eban was born in Cape Town, South Africa in 1915. He moved on to London in 1922, studied and later taught...

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