KOHN, LEO

KOHN, LEO (Yehudah Pinḥas; 1894–1961), Israeli scholar and diplomat. Born in Frankfurt, Germany, Kohn settled in Palestine in 1921. For 27 years he was at the center of Zionist and Israeli diplomatic activity. In 1932 he went to Dublin where he wrote a study of the constitution of the Irish Free State. From 1934 he was political secretary of the Jewish Agency and from 1948 to 1952 political adviser to Chaim Weizmann. From the establishment of the State (1948) until his death, Kohn served as political adviser to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. In recognition of his services he was given the personal rank of ambassador in 1958. From 1953 he also held the chair of international relations at the Hebrew University. His draft constitution for Israel was adopted as the basis for the deliberations of the Constitution Commission of the State Council in 1948. Kohn's draft constitution stipulated Israel's historical claim to Ereẓ Israel, followed Jewish teachings on the sanctity of human life and the dignity of man, and rejected the death penalty and all forms of degrading punishment. However, the knesset decided to legislate a series of Basic Laws that would eventually be consolidated into a written constitution. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: J.G. Mc-Donald, My Mission in Israel (1951); D. Horowitz, State in the Making (1953); M. Davis (ed.), Israel, its Role in Civilization (1955); M. Sharett, Yoman Medini 1936 (1968). (Shmuel Bendor)