Yehuda Avner, speechwriter for 4 Israeli prime ministers, dies

Yehuda AvnerJERUSALEM (JTA) – Yehuda Avner, a speechwriter and adviser to four Israeli prime ministers, has died.

Avner, who wrote a memoir about his government service called “The Prime Ministers,” died March 24 at his home in Jerusalem. He was 86.

As the speechwriter and adviser to Levi Eshkol, Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin and Menachem Begin, Avner was present at many of the most historical and private moments of the state and its leaders.

His son-in-law David Sable called Avner “Begin’s Shakespeare.” Sable also wrote in a statement sent to reporters that Avner “was a true servant of the Jewish people. The statement said that in Avner’s role as adviser “to the Generation of Legendary Leaders of Israel he was never political, never took personal gain, never shied from conflict.”

Avner “listened, advised and wrote giving voice to the Prime Ministers he served and voice to our cause and our people,” Sable wrote.

An emigre from England to British Mandate Palestine in 1947, Avner also served as Israeli ambassador to Australia and the United Kingdom.