# Simcha Dinitz

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**Simcha Dinitz** (Hebrew: שמחה דיניץ; 23 June 1929 - 23 September 2003) was an Israeli [statesman](/source/Politician) and politician. He served as Director General of the Prime Minister's office and political advisor to Prime Minister [Golda Meir](/source/Golda_Meir) from 1969 to 1973, before becoming the [Israeli](/source/Israel) [Ambassador](/source/Ambassador) to the [United States](/source/United_States) from 1973 to 1979. He had an overlapping appointment as the [Non resident Ambassador to the Bahamas](/source/List_of_ambassadors_of_Israel_to_the_Bahamas)[1] During the 1980s he was elected to the [Knesset](/source/Knesset).

Dinitz played a major role in coordinating the weapons shipments to Israel received from the U.S. during the [Yom Kippur War](/source/Yom_Kippur_War) airlift in 1973, and was a member of the Israeli delegation during the [Camp David peace talks](/source/Camp_David_Accords) with [Egypt](/source/Egypt).

In the [1984 elections](/source/1984_Israeli_legislative_election) he was elected to the Knesset on the [Alignment](/source/Alignment_(political_party))'s list and served as a member of its Committee for Foreign and Defense Affairs. However, he resigned from the Knesset shortly before the [1988 elections](/source/1988_Israeli_legislative_election).

From 1986 Dinitz served as Chairman of the Executive of the [World Zionist Organization](/source/World_Zionist_Organization) and [Jewish Agency for Israel](/source/Jewish_Agency_for_Israel). During his time in office, almost 1 million Jews (about 7% of the entire Jewish population in the world) [emigrated to Israel](/source/Emigrated_to_Israel) from the Soviet Union and other countries. In addition, he coordinated [Operation Solomon](/source/Operation_Solomon), in which over 14,000 [Ethiopian Jews](/source/Ethiopian_Jews) were airlifted to safety in [Israel](/source/Israel) in one day in May 1991.

In 1995, Dinitz was forced to step down after he was indicted for two charges of theft.[2] Dinitz claimed that these were accounting errors, and was tried in the Jerusalem District Court. He was acquitted of one charge and convicted of the other, but the conviction was overturned in an appeal to the [Supreme Court of Israel](/source/Supreme_Court_of_Israel).

Dinitz received his diplomatic training at the [Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service](/source/Edmund_A._Walsh_School_of_Foreign_Service) at [Georgetown University](/source/Georgetown_University) in the United States where he obtained both bachelor's and master's degrees.

A street in the [Beit Hakerem](/source/Beit_HaKerem,_Jerusalem) neighborhood in [Jerusalem](/source/Jerusalem) is named after him.

## References

1. ["The Bahamas"](https://mfa.gov.il/MFA/AboutTheMinistry/Israeli%20ambassadors/Pages/Bahamas-The.aspx). *Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs*. Retrieved 19 May 2020.

1. ["Ex-chief of Jewish Agency is guilty of credit card fraud"](http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/3439/edition_id/61/format/html/displaystory.html)

## External links

- The [Central Zionist Archives](/source/Central_Zionist_Archives) in Jerusalem [site](http://www.zionistarchives.org.il). Office of Simcha Dinitz (S111)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Simcha Dinitz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simcha_Dinitz) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simcha_Dinitz?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.