Eliahu Eilat

Eliahu Elath, born Ilya Menakhemovich Epstein (Hebrew: אליהו אילת‎, Russian: Илья Менахемович Эпштейн, romanized: Ilja Menahemovič Epštejn; 16 July 1903 – 21 June 1990)[1] was an Israeli diplomat and Orientalist.

Born in the Russian Empire (now Ukraine) as Ilya Menakhemovich Epstein,[2] Elath immigrated from the Soviet Union to Mandatory Palestine in 1924.

[2] During World War II, Eilat visited Burma to meet with allied military leaders, including Major-General Orde Wingate.

Elath was unaware that Wingate was a nudist and was said to have been "scarred for life by his experience of discussing Zionism for an hour and a half with a completely naked man".

[5] Eilat sought and received President Truman’s recognition of Israel's establishment as a state in May 1948.

Epstein informed Harry S. Truman of the Israeli Declaration of Independence , which he wrote had been proclaimed "within the frontiers approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations in its Resolution of November 29, 1947". Epstein requested US recognition of the new state.