Yehuda Lapidot | |
|---|---|
 Yehuda Lapidot in 2009 | |
| Born | 1928 |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | biochemistry |
| Military career | |
| Service/ | Irgun |
| Battles/wars | 1947-1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine 1948 Arab-Israeli War |
Yehuda Lapidot (born August 13,1928) is an Israeli historian,former professor of biochemistry,and veteran of the Zionist militia Irgun.
Yehuda Lapidot was born in Eretz Israel (Mandatory Palestine) in 1928. At age 15,he joined Irgun,taking the nom de guerre "Nimrod" and soon became active in the Irgun's Combat Corps (Hayil Kravi) in Ramat Gan,being responsible for maintaining weapon arsenals there and in Bnei Brak. [1]
During the Jewish insurgency in Palestine,also known as the Revolt,he took part in anti-British operations. On 2 April 1946,he participated in a major operation to sabotage the railway network in southern Palestine,and was severely wounded in the arm. [1] While recuperating from his injury,which prevented him from using a gun,he worked in the Irgun's propaganda department,where he was director of its foreign press section.[ citation needed ]
In 1947,he was transferred to Jerusalem,and served as a commander during the 1947-1948 civil war. [1] Initially,his role was to train new recruits.[ citation needed ] His most notable action during this period was taking part in a joint Irgun-Lehi attack on the Arab village of Deir Yassin,in what would later become known as the Deir Yassin massacre. After Benzion Cohen,the overall Irgun commander of the operation,was wounded,he took charge of the Irgun force and led it through most of the fighting.[ citation needed ]
During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War,he served as a company commander,and took part in fighting at Ramat Rachel and in Operation Kedem, [1] [2] during which he led a unit that was part of the final Israeli attempt to capture Jerusalem's Old City during the war. His force successfully broke through the New Gate and into the Old City,while other Israeli forces failed to reach their objectives,and Israeli commander David Shaltiel ordered a general retreat shortly before an imminent pre-agreed cease-fire came into effect. [2] For his actions Lapidot was twice mentioned in dispatches. [1]
Lapidot also led the establishment of the agricultural training farm at Shuni Fortress.[ citation needed ]
In 1949,he began studying biochemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem,and received a PhD in biochemistry in 1960. [1] He worked on the biosynthesis of proteins.[ citation needed ] In 1973,he was appointed a professor of biochemistry at the Hebrew University. [1]
Between 1980 and 1985 he served as an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister and former Irgun commander Menachem Begin. [1] His role was that of head of Nativ,an Israeli liaison organization maintaining contacts with Jews living in the Eastern Bloc.[ citation needed ]
In 1988,he retired from the Hebrew University and began researching the history of the British Palestine Mandate era,especially the history of the Irgun and the Revolt.[ citation needed ]
In the 1990s,Lapidot wrote four books on the history of the Irgun and the Revolt:
The Irgun,officially the National Military Organization in the Land of Israel,was a Zionist paramilitary organization that operated in Mandatory Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the older and larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah. The Irgun has been viewed as a terrorist organization or organization which carried out terrorist acts.
Lehi,often known pejoratively as the Stern Gang,was a Zionist paramilitary militant organization founded by Avraham ("Yair") Stern in Mandatory Palestine. Its avowed aim was to evict the British authorities from Palestine by use of violence,allowing unrestricted immigration of Jews and the formation of a Jewish state. It was initially called the National Military Organization in Israel,upon being founded in August 1940,but was renamed Lehi one month later. The group referred to its members as terrorists and admitted to having carried out acts of terrorism.
Haganah was the main Zionist paramilitary organization that operated for the Yishuv in the British Mandate for Palestine. It was founded in 1920 to defend the Yishuv's presence in the region,and was formally disbanded in 1948,when it became the core force integrated into the Israel Defense Forces shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Independence.
The British administrative headquarters for Mandatory Palestine,housed in the southern wing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem,were bombed in a terrorist attack on 22 July 1946,by the militant right-wing Zionist underground organization Irgun during the Jewish insurgency. Ninety-one people of various nationalities were killed,including Arabs,Britons and Jews,and 46 were injured.
David Shaltiel was an Israeli military and intelligence officer,later also diplomat,and was most well known for being the district commander of the Haganah in Jerusalem during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
Operation Kedem was an action planned and carried out by Irgun and Lehi forces in July 1948,during the 1948 Arab–Israeli war. Its purpose was to capture East Jerusalem,including the Old City. After the first cease-fire of the Arab–Israeli War,which lasted for four weeks,the balance in power in Jerusalem had shifted dramatically. The Jews were now much stronger than the Arabs in the Jerusalem sector. Irgun and Lehi attempts to break through the wall into the Old City failed.
Yosef Avni was an Irgun fighter. He was born Yosef Danoch in Jerusalem,British Mandate of Palestine,to Yemenite Jewish immigrants. He changed his name to Avni after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.
David Raziel was a leader of the Zionist underground in British Mandatory Palestine and one of the founders of the Irgun.
The Battle for Jerusalem took place during the 1947–1948 civil war phase of the 1947–1949 Palestine war. It saw Jewish and Arab militias in Mandatory Palestine,and later the militaries of Israel and Transjordan,fight for control over the city of Jerusalem.
Israel Eldad,was an Israeli Revisionist Zionist philosopher and member of the Jewish underground group Lehi in Mandatory Palestine.
Yeruham "Eitan" Livni was a Revisionist Zionist activist,Irgun commander and Israeli politician,father of Israeli politician Tzipi Livni.
Aryeh Ben-Eliezer was a Revisionist Zionist leader,Irgun member and Israeli politician. He was acting leader of Herut from August 1951,after Menachem Begin resigned as a result of the 1951 Israeli legislative election,until January 1952,when Ben-Eliezer's heart attack the previous month and the debate over the Reparations Agreement between Israel and the Federal Republic of Germany prompted Begin's return to political activity.
The Deir Yassin massacre took place on April 9,1948,when Zionist paramilitaries attacked the village of Deir Yassin near Jerusalem,Mandatory Palestine,killing at least 107 Palestinian villagers,including women and children. The attack was conducted primarily by the Irgun and Lehi,who were supported by the Haganah and Palmach. The massacre was carried out despite the village having agreed to a non-aggression pact. It occurred during the 1947-1948 civil war and was a central component of the Nakba and the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight.
Events in the year 1948 in the British Mandate of Palestine.
Hanoch Kalai was a senior leader of Irgun and a co-founder of Lehi,and an expert on the Hebrew language. He was Deputy Commander in Chief of Irgun under David Raziel and spent three months as Commander in Chief after Raziel was imprisoned by the British authorities,until his own arrest. He was Avraham Stern's deputy until he left the organisation.
Avraham Stern,alias Yair,was one of the leaders of the Jewish paramilitary organization Irgun. In September 1940,he founded a breakaway militant Zionist group named Lehi,called the "Stern Gang" by the British authorities and by the mainstream in the Yishuv Jewish establishment. The group referred to its members as terrorists and admitted to having carried out terrorist attacks.
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