Asher Ben-Natan (Hebrew: אשר בן נתן; February 15, 1921 – June 17, 2014) was an Israeli diplomat and a key figure in the country's defense and diplomacy fields. Ben-Natan led the search for Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, who was captured in 1960.^[1] He became the Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Defense from 1959 until 1965.^[1] Ben-Natan then served as the first Israeli Ambassador to Germany (then West Germany) from August 1965 until 1970.^[2][1] Ben-Natan was then appointed as Israel's Ambassador to France from 1970 until his retirement in 1974.^[1]

Asher Ben-Natan was born Arthur Piernikartz in Vienna, Austria, on February 15, 1921.^[1] His father, Natan Piernikartz, operated a clothing business in the Austrian capital.^[1] He attended a Hebrew High School and was a member of the Young Macabbi.^[1] His father bought five-acres of land in Mandatory Palestine in 1934 in response to the emergence of Nazi Germany and the growth of Antisemitism.^[1] The family drew up plans to flee to Palestine in 1938 following the Anschluss of Austria. Asher Ben-Natan fled Austria first. He boarded a Panamanian-registered ship in Piraeus, Greece, from which he sailed to Palestine.^[1] The ship dropped the passengers off at Tantura, where he swam to the beach.^[1] He found work at a kibbutz and changed his name to Asher Ben-Natan, honor of his father.^[1] His parents and sister arrived in Palestine from Austria a few months after his own arrival. Asher Ben-Natan married his wife Erika in 1940.

In 1978, he unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Tel Aviv.^[3]