Historical Dictionary of Israeli Intelligence

1941 The Palmah underground militia creates the Syrian Platoon,

commanded by Yisrael Ben-Yehuda and Yehoshua (Josh) Palmon, who

have made a major specialist contribution to Shai; members of the pla-

toon speak Arabic and operate in Syria.

1942 Due to World War II, the Mossad Le’Aliyah Beth activities are

wholly suspended for the duration of the war.

1943 The Palmah sets up the Arab Platoon, a unit of combat and in-

telligence officers disguised as Arabs for covert missions. It is known

by its codename Shahar.

1944 The Palmah sets up the German Platoon, consisting of German-

speaking Palestinian Jews, commanded by Shimon Avidan. They are

parachuted into Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe to encourage resistance

and collect intelligence. The Mossad Le’Aliyah Beth activities are re-

sumed when Palestinian Jews learn the full extent of the “Final Solution.”

1945 Yolande Harmer is recruited in Egypt to the Political Department

of the Jewish Agency during a visit to Egypt by the department’s head,

Moshe Sharett; posing as a journalist, she is considered one of the best

spies in Egypt. July: Briha (Escape), an organization for the illegal im-

migration movement of Jews to Palestine from postwar Soviet-occupied

Eastern Europe, begins activities.

1946 In Hadera, Palmah’s Arab Platoon organizes courses on intelli-

gence, as a result of cooperation between Zerubaval Vermal (Arbel),

nicknamed Chifab, later a founder of combat intelligence in Israel De-

fense Forces (IDF), and Yehoshua Flomin. Participants are taught Ara-

bic and hear lectures to gain an acquaintance with the Arabs.

1948 14 May:The State of Israel is declared. 15 May: Israel becomes

an independent state. 7 June: Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, after

consulting with Shai’s acting director Reuven Shiloah, resolves to es-

tablish three intelligence organizations instead of Shai: Military Intelli-

gence (MI), attached to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) General Staff;

a domestic secret service, later known as the Israeli Security Agency

(ISA); and a foreign intelligence service. The first two are initially sub-

ordinate to the IDF; the foreign intelligence service is intended to be

subordinate to the minister of defense until the end of Israel’s War of In-

dependence. 29 June: Meir Tobianski is executed by firing squad after

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