Biography
Argov was born in Jerusalem in 1929, to a family that had lived in Jerusalem for seven generations. As a teenager, he joined the Palmach, the elite force of the Haganah. During the 1947-1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine, he was wounded in the Battle of Safed. When Israel was established and the 1948 Arab-Israeli War broke out, Argov joined the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
In 1950, he completed his military service and went to the United States to study, receiving a BA in political science from Georgetown University in 1952. While studying, he worked part-time at the Israeli Embassy, where he met his future wife Hava. Afterwards, he went to study in the United Kingdom, and received an MA in international relations from the London School of Economics in 1955. He then returned to Israel, where he spent several years working in the Prime Minister's Office under David Ben-Gurion.
In 1959, Argov joined the Israeli Foreign Ministry, and was appointed consul-general in Lagos, Nigeria, and was later transferred served at the Israeli Embassy in Ghana. In 1962, he served at the Israeli consulate in New York. In 1965, he became Deputy-Director of the American Desk at the Foreign Ministry, and was posted at the Israeli Embassy in Washington in 1968. From 1971 to 1974, he served as ambassador to Mexico, and was appointed Deputy Director-General for Information of the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem when he returned. In 1977, he was appointed ambassador to the Netherlands, and served until 1979.
In September 1979, he was appointed ambassador to the United Kingdom by Prime Minister Menachem Begin. During his three years as ambassador, he "forcefully and and articulately put forward Israel's cause to a generally hostile Foreign Office and media". He was highly admired by British Jews, and often visited Jewish communities.
Argov had three children with his wife Hava: son Gideon and daughters Yehudit and Edna. Hava died in May 2002.
Read more about this topic: Shlomo Argov
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