Lourie, Arthur

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LOURIE, ARTHUR

LOURIE, ARTHUR (1903–1978), Israeli diplomat. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Lourie practiced as a barrister-at-law and lectured in Roman-Dutch law at Witwatersrand University. He served as political secretary of the Jewish Agency in London from 1933 until 1948, working under Nahum *Sokolow and Chaim *Weizmann. He spent most of World War ii in the United States, engaged in Zionist political work. In 1945 he was a member of the Jewish Agency delegation at the San Francisco un Conference and, from 1946 to 1948, was director of the Jewish Agency un Affairs Office in New York. From 1948 Lourie was a member of the Israel foreign service: from 1948 to 1953 he was Israel consul general in New York, from 1957 to 1959 he was ambassador to Canada, from 1960 to 1965 ambassador to the United Kingdom, and deputy director-general, Israel foreign ministry, 1965–72. A member of several Israel delegations to the un General Assembly, he was head of the delegation in 1959.

[Benjamin Jaffe]