feature
Why Veterans of Israel’s 1948 War of
Independence Too k up the Fight
any see the creation of the
modern-day state of Israel as part
of a historical narrative, in which
Israeli independence was a reaction to the
Holocaust. “The catastrophe which recently
befell the Jewish people — the massacre of
millions of Jews in Europe — was another clear
demonstration of the urgency of solving the
problem of its homelessness by reestablishing
in Eretz-Israel the Jewish State,” the provisional
government of Israel declared on May 14, 1948.

But when JNS interviewed nearly 30
veterans of the 1948 War of Independence
in Israel from October 2022 to January, all
of the octogenarians, nonagenarians and
centenarians said that 3,000 years of Jewish
history — and not the Shoah — drove them to
help reclaim the Jewish historic homeland.

These interviewees were found by visiting
nursing homes, kibbutzim and other sites in
Israel and abroad, often asking to speak with
the oldest people present. The roughly 30 who
agreed to talk about their experiences — the
majority in English with some Yiddish — spoke
for more than 60 hours collectively.

The veterans spanned Israeli-born sabras
who were active in the Jewish militias Irgun,
Lehi and the Haganah, as well as foreign
fi ghters who came to assist what would become
the Israel Defense Forces in Machal units. Both
sabras and foreign volunteers knew a great
deal about the Holocaust, and many had lost
relatives and friends. They met survivors who
recounted their experiences. But invariably, the
veterans said that they were motivated in their
service by a long cultural and historical memory
rather than World War II itself.

Ahead of Yom
Ha’atzmaut — Israel’s Independence Day, which
begins on the evening of April 25 and continues
through the following day — here are a few of
those stories.

Haganah Messenger
During some eight hours at kibbutz Gan Shmuel,
Itzik Mizrachi, 90, shared his story, gave a tour
of the kibbutz where he lives and invited JNS
to lunch at its dining hall. The Jerusalem-born
Mizrachi said he was a messenger in Haganah’s
youth wing, Gadna.

During the outbreak of the war in May 1948,
Mizrachi and his family were in the Mount
Scopus area, and Arabs blocked them from
taking roads to other safe areas. A mob
mobilized to try to kill them, he said, but the
patriarch of an Arab family, Abu Mustafa, who
shared their home stood guard at the door and
told the mob it would have to kill him fi rst.

Soon thereafter, Haganah members came in
an armored truck and told the family it had half
an hour to gather its things and come to safety.

Mizrachi, who remains in good health and
walks and drives on his own, said that he is the
seventh generation in his family to live in Israel,
after his ancestors, Sephardic Jews, left Spain
during the expulsion.

As a Haganah message runner, he studied
KAPAP — an acronym for krav panim el panim,
or close-quarter fi ghting — which Haganah
used to disguise its weapons training.

Mizrachi later studied with Imi Lichtenfeld,
founder of krav maga, and his son Rhon
Mizrachi is now one of the recognized
experts in that area.

Mizrachi said that
the ilony
Alex Z
tern Ruth S
izrachi Itzik M
26 APRIL 20, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT
Holocaust was only one chapter in Jewish
history. “Why would we allow that moment
alone to defi ne us as Jews?” he said. “Long
before the Holocaust, we said, ‘Next year in
Jerusalem’ every year during the Passover
seder.” The Holocaust was a motivator, but not the
main one. “For generations, we yearned for
our independence. There were many pogroms,
massacres and expulsions in our history. We
never let any of these defi ne us either,” he said.

South African Zionism
“The South African Jewish community was very
Zionist long before the Holocaust,” said Ruth
Stern, 97, a South African nurse who now lives
in Jerusalem.

The 800 South African volunteers in 1948
paled in number only to Americans (1,000).

Due to the representation from these two
nations in particular, English became the most
spoken language among machalniks, and most
foreign volunteers, who were likelier to know
Yiddish than Hebrew, fi rst spoke in Yiddish
with Israelis.

Stern, who went to Israel to
volunteer over her parents’
objections — “Why can’t you
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Itzik Mizrachi, Ruth Stern and Alex Zilony: Avi Kumar via JNS; Tom Tugend: USC Shoah Foundation via JNS
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M Avi Kumar | JNS.org