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Biography
Yosef Tekoah (Hebrew: יוסף תקוע, born Yosef Tukaczynski; 4 March 1925 – 14 April 1991) was a senior Israeli diplomat and an Israeli doctor and the President of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (1975–1981).
Tekoah was born in Lyakhavichy, Poland as Yosef Tukaczynski. At the age of five he emigrated with his family to Harbin, due to the rise of fascism in his homeland. Some time after the Fall of Harbin to the Imperial Japanese Army, Tekoah's family moved to Shanghai for financial purposes. He had a Doctorate in international relations from Harvard University, where he also taught and Master's degree in Natural and legal rights from Aurora University.
In 1948 he made Aliyah, changed his name to Tekoah and started working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he met his wife, Ruth Tekoah.
During his work in the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tekoah appointed for several positions:
- The Israel Foreign Ministry legal adviser (1949–1953)
- Head of Armistice Affairs in the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1954–1958)
- Deputy and Acting Head of the Israeli delegation to the UN (1958–1960)
- The Israeli Ambassador to Brazil (1960–1962)
- The Israeli Ambassador to the Soviet Union (1962–1965)
- VP of the Israeli Foreign Ministry (1965–1967)
- Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations (1968–1975)
Tekoah died in 1991 in New York City after a Heart attack.
Tekoah knew fluent Hebrew, English, Russian, French, Portuguese, and Chinese.