Witness History
Witness History
The assassination of the UN's first Middle East mediator
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April 29, 2020
10 minutes
Available for over a year
The UN's first Middle East mediator, Count Folke Bernadotte, was assassinated in Jerusalem in 1948. A Swedish diplomat and member of the Swedish royal family, Count Bernadotte was killed by Jewish extremists four months after being appointed to try to bring peace to what was already proving to be one of the most intractable conflicts in the world. Louise Hidalgo has been talking to his son, Bertil Berndotte, about the count and his mission.
Picture: Count Folke Bernadotte (centre foreground) in a jeep in Haifa on September 15th 1948. He was assassinated two days later in Jerusalem (Credit: AFP via Getty Images)