Shaltiel, David

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SHALTIEL, DAVID

SHALTIEL, DAVID (1903–1969), Israeli soldier and diplomat. Born in Hamburg of a Sephardi family, Shaltiel went to Palestine in 1923 and served in the French Foreign Legion from 1926 to 1931. In 1932 he returned to Palestine and joined the *Haganah, for which he became an arms purchasing agent in Europe. Arrested by the Nazis in 1936, he was freed through Haganah efforts in 1939. In 1940 he established Haganah counterintelligence and was chief of Haganah intelligence (1941–42, 1946–48). He was the commander of Jerusalem during the *War of Independence, and received the rank of alluf. In 1950 Shaltiel was appointed Israel military attaché in France, Benelux, and Italy. He was minister to Brazil and Venezuela (1952–56), minister (then ambassador) to Mexico and the Caribbean Islands (1956–59), and from 1963 to 1966 ambassador to Holland.

bibliography:

Dinur, Haganah, 2 pt. 3 (1963), index.

[Netanel Lorch]