Yehuda Avner

Yehuda Avner
Born	Yehuda Haffner (1928-12-30)December 30, 1928 Manchester, England
Died	Jerusalem, Israel
Occupation	Israeli Prime Ministerial Advisor, Diplomat & Author
Notable works	The Young Inheritors: A Portrait of Israel's Children, 1982 The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership, 2010 The Ambassador, 2015
Spouse	Mimi Cailingold (m. 1953; wid. 2015)
Children	4

Yehuda Avner (Hebrew: יהודה אבנר‎; December 30, 1928 – March 24, 2015) was an Israeli prime ministerial advisor, diplomat, and author. He served as Speechwriter and Secretary to Israeli Prime Ministers Golda Meir and Levi Eshkol, and as Advisor to Israeli Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem Begin, and Shimon Peres. Avner served in positions at the Israeli Consulate in New York, and the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC, and as Israel’s Ambassador to Britain, Ireland and Australia. In 2010, he turned his insider stories about Israeli politics and diplomacy into a bestselling memoir, The Prime Ministers, which subsequently became the basis for a two-part documentary film. In 2015, his novel, The Ambassador, which Avner co-authored with crime writer Matt Rees, was posthumously published.

Biography

Lawrence Haffner (later Yehuda Avner) was born in Manchester, England in 1928. He was active in the Religious-Zionist youth movement, Bnei Akiva, and was committed to helping build a Jewish State in Palestine. In The Prime Ministers, he recalls the anti-Semitism he saw and experienced in Britain, including anti-Semitic rioting in the aftermath of the Sergeants affair. Upon high school graduation in 1947, he moved to Jerusalem, then part of British Mandatory Palestine.

Avner fought in the Siege of Jerusalem during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War following the establishment of Israel. In 1949, he was amongst the founders of Kibbutz Lavi, a religious kibbutz located in Israel's Galilee region. He temporarily moved back to Britain to work for the Bnei Akiva movement as National Director ("Mazkir"). In 1953, he married Mimi Cailingold, the sister of Esther Cailingold. He returned to Israel with his wife in 1954. The couple had four children.

Diplomatic career

Avner returned to and settled in Jerusalem in 1956 and joined the Israeli Foreign Service in 1958. For the next 25 years, he was seconded to the Prime Minister's office and worked for five Israeli prime ministers: as Speechwriter and Secretary to Prime Ministers Levi Eshkol and Golda Meir, and as Advisor to Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem Begin, and Shimon Peres. As a top political aide, Avner was privy to the inside workings of Israel's prime minister's office, and was present for major decision-making moments related to military operations and diplomatic negotiations, including Operation Entebbe, Operation Opera, the signing of the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. In this capacity, Avner served as a liaison between the prime ministers of Israel and Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Avner documented many of these conversations, and later published some of the unclassified discussions.

Avner also served in diplomatic positions at the Israeli Consulate in New York City, and the Israeli Embassy in Washington D.C. In 1983, he was appointed Ambassador to Britain and Non-resident Ambassador to the Republic of Ireland. He returned to Israel in 1988, before serving as Ambassador to Australia between 1992 and 1995.

Death

Avner died on March 24, 2015 from cancer at the age of 86. He maintained a distinct Mancunian accent throughout his life. In memoriam, Asher Cailingold writes about Avner's last years: "His retirement years were spent in voluntary activities, serving on the boards of several national charities and involving himself in the needs of underprivileged groups".

Published work

In 1992, Avner, together with photographer Gemma Levine, published The Young Inheritors: A Portrait of Israel's Children. In 2010, he authored The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership, in which he shared his first-hand experiences working with Israel's and world political leaders. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called the book "...a sweeping tome of Israeli politics and history." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described it as "...a fascinating account of someone who was an eye witness to many historic moments in the history of the Jewish state...provid[ing] insight into the actions of our nation’s leaders and offer[ing] important lessons for the future." The Jerusalem Post called the book "the ultimate insider's account". In 2015, The Ambassador, an alternate history that explores the question, "What if Israel had been established in 1938 instead of 1948?", which Avner co-authored with crime writer Matt Rees, was posthumously published. The Jerusalem Post called the book “…a compelling, intricately plotted page-turner that deftly combines well-researched historical detail, Avner’s vast experience in diplomatic circles and Rees’s finely tuned storytelling skills.”

Films

In 2013 and 2014, Moriah Films, the film division of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, produced The Prime Ministers, a two-part documentary based on Avner's book. It is narrated by Avner, and stars Christoph Waltz, Sandra Bullock, Michael Douglas, and Leonard Nimoy as the voices of Israel's Prime Ministers. Part I, The Prime Ministers: The Pioneers, focuses on Prime Ministers Eshkol and Meir; Part II, The Prime Ministers: Soldiers and Peacemakers, focuses on Prime Ministers Rabin and Begin.

Awards and recognition

Avner was a fellow of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, a member of the Ambassadorial Appointments Committee, and a member of the International Advisory Board of NGO Monitor. In 1995, the Yehuda Avner Chair in Religion and Politics was established at Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel. In 2012, Avner received an honorary doctorate from Yeshiva University and presented the commencement's keynote address.

External links

• www.yehudaavner.com Yehuda Avner's website
• www.tobypress.com The Toby Press website
• www.theprimeministers-thefilm.com The Prime Ministers documentary website
• www.jpost.com The Jerusalem Post interview
• www.bloomberg.com Bloomberg News article
• www.tabletmag.com Tablet interview
• www.thejewishweek.com The Jewish Week interview