Abba Eban: The Most Eloquent Diplomat of the Twentieth Century

From Cape Town to Cambridge

Aubrey Solomon Meir Eban was born on February 2, 1915, in Cape Town, South Africa, to Lithuanian Jewish parents. His father died when he was an infant, and his mother moved the family to London, where young Aubrey was raised by his grandfather, a noted Zionist.

Eban won a scholarship to Queens’ College, Cambridge, where he earned a triple first in Oriental Languages and Classics — the highest honors the university awards. His academic brilliance was matched by his oratorical skills; he became president of the Cambridge Union, the university’s prestigious debating society.

At Cambridge, Eban studied Arabic and Persian alongside Hebrew, preparing himself — consciously or not — for the diplomatic career that lay ahead. When World War II broke out, he served as a British intelligence officer in Cairo and Jerusalem, working with the Jewish Agency on Zionist political strategy.

Israel’s Voice at the United Nations

After Israeli independence in 1948, Eban was appointed the new state’s ambassador to the United Nations and simultaneously to the United States. He was thirty-three years old. For the next decade, he would serve as Israel’s primary advocate to the world.

Eban’s UN speeches were events. Delegates from countries hostile to Israel would attend simply to hear him speak, marveling at his command of English, his devastating wit, and his ability to construct arguments of crystalline logical clarity. He quoted Shakespeare, cited international law, invoked biblical history, and deployed humor with surgical precision.

His advocacy was critical during Israel’s early years, when the young state faced repeated diplomatic challenges. Eban’s eloquence helped secure international support — or at least neutralize opposition — during the Suez Crisis of 1956 and countless General Assembly debates.

Foreign Minister

Eban served as Israel’s Foreign Minister from 1966 to 1974, the most consequential period in Israeli diplomatic history. He navigated the crisis leading to the Six-Day War in 1967, traveling to Paris, London, and Washington in the tense weeks before the conflict to gauge international support.

His speech to the UN Security Council on June 19, 1967, three days after the war ended, is widely regarded as the greatest diplomatic address of the twentieth century. For over an hour, Eban laid out Israel’s case with remorseless logic and eloquent passion, describing the existential threat Israel had faced and the defensive nature of its military action.

During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Eban worked frantically to maintain international support while Israel fought for survival. His diplomatic skills helped secure the American airlift of military supplies that proved decisive in the war’s outcome.

The Art of Diplomacy

Eban’s diplomatic philosophy rested on the conviction that language and argument matter in international affairs. He rejected the cynical view that diplomacy is merely power dressed in words, insisting that persuasion, logic, and moral clarity could influence outcomes.

His wit was legendary and often devastating. Besides the famous quip about Palestinians missing opportunities, he observed that “history teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.” His rhetorical gifts made him feared in debate and beloved by audiences worldwide.

Marginalization and Later Years

Despite his international fame, Eban never achieved the domestic political power his talents deserved. Israeli voters and politicians valued toughness and plain speech over eloquence. Eban’s cultured English accent and cerebral style seemed foreign to many Israelis, and he was sometimes mocked as “the man who speaks ten languages but cannot communicate in any of them” — a cruel jibe that revealed the gap between diplomatic and domestic political skills.

He was pushed out of the Foreign Ministry in 1974 and gradually marginalized within the Labor Party. He spent his later years writing, lecturing, and producing television documentaries about Jewish history. His books, including My People, Heritage, and Personal Witness, are models of historical writing.

Legacy

Eban died on November 17, 2002, in Herzliya, Israel. He was eighty-seven. His legacy is the articulation of Israel’s case to the world during the state’s most formative and dangerous decades. In an era when Israel’s existence was precarious and its enemies numerous, Eban provided the intellectual and rhetorical framework that helped the Jewish state survive.

His oratory remains a standard against which diplomatic speech is measured. In a world that increasingly distrusts eloquence, Eban’s career stands as proof that words, wielded with intelligence and conviction, can shape the course of nations.