Amichai Paglin
Encyclopedia
Amichai Paglin, code name “Gidi” (December 1, 1922 - February 26, 1978), was the Chief Operations Officer of the Irgun
, the commander of the battle to conquer Jaffa
in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and, following independence, Prime Minister Menachem Begin
’s counter-terrorism
advisor.
in 1920, and he was born in Tel Aviv
in 1922. He studied in the elementary school Tel Nordau, and continued in the Balfour high school. He was in the same class as Lechi fighter Eliyahu Bet-Zuri
and future IDF Chief of Staff Tzvi Tzur
.
At a young age he joined the Haganah
, and was appointed the signaller of Efraim Dekel, the commander of Shai (the Haganah intelligence unit.) He participated in a squad commander course, and expected to participate in significant operations against the British. However, to his disappointment, he was commanded to scrape posters off walls and to do other simple activities.
. Paglin's older brother, Neriel, was a member of the Hagana's naval unit, the Palyam
, and was an assistant to Haganah commander Yisrael Galili
. Neriel was one of the 23 soldiers on the ship Ari HaYam which sank off of Vichy controlled Lebanon in May 1941, in a mission for the Allies
. This frustrated Amichai greatly, who felt that his brother had given his life for the British, and yet the British did not open Palestine to Jewish immigration. This encouraged him to join the more anti-British Irgun.
He joined the “battle brigades” of the Irgun and immediately began acting as a simple soldier. He participated in one of their first operations, the demolition of the Immigration Department in Haifa
. Afterwards, he participated in an operation against the British Income Tax offices, as well as an attack on the CID
building in Tel Aviv.
Paglin stood out for his courage, his technical knowledge, his fertile imagination, and his daring and original plans to strike the enemy. Menachem Begin (the leader of the Irgun), would later write about him, “this amazing young man, his military ability borders, without doubt, on the genius…”
In 1946, after the arrest of Eitan Livni
, the Chief Operations Officer of the Irgun, “Gidi” was appointed to the position in his place. In this position he planned over 200 operations: both against the British, and in the War of Independence, against the Arabs. In many of these attacks, he personally participated.
Paglin planned the King David Hotel bombing
,the attack on the British Air Force base at Qastina, the Goldschmidt House officers club bombing, the Acre prison break
, and was among the group that executed the two British sergeants
in Netanya
, as a response to the hanging of Irgun members by the British. He also led the battle for the liberation of Jaffa in the War of Independence, and the (unsuccessful) attempt to conquer Ramle.
After the Irgun merged with the Israel Defense Forces
in the coastal area, he transferred to Jerusalem, where the Irgun continued as an independent entity. He participated in the joint attempt to break the siege on Jerusalem’s Old City (together with the Haganah and the Lechi).
When the Irgun tried bringing the Altalena
arms ship, Begin did not believe that the IDF would shoot at the Jews of the Irgun. Paglin warned him that they would likely attack, and therefore should direct the ship elsewhere. In the end, Paglin was correct. As the ship was being shelled, Paglin tried to capture the seat of government in Ramat Gan. However, he was detained by IDF soldiers. He eventually managed to escape, but it was too late to help the Altalena or threaten the government.
When all of the military organizations were disbanded and integrated into the IDF, there was an agreement that three commanders from the Irgun would be appointed as generals in the new army. Paglin attempted to be drafted twice, but was rejected due to "health reasons" (apparently by direct order of Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion
.)
for industrial ovens, which became famous for building the oven in which the Nazi war criminal Adolph Eichmann was burned after his execution in Israel.
Paglin was not active in political life, but continued to deal with military and security matters. However, in 1966, Shmuel Tamir
challenged Begin for the leadership of the Herut
Party. Tamir invited Paglin to speak, where he attacked the management of the party as well. But when the party recovered from its divisions, Paglin became close with Begin again.
In the period leading up to the Six Day War in 1967, the Mossad
considered a plan to sink a large boat full of mortar
in the Suez Canal
to prevent all passage. The difficulty was finding a way to sink the boat fast enough before the Egyptians would have a chance to move it. Due to his creativity and experience, Paglin was approached. He quickly came up with plans, but due to the sudden breakout of war, the operation never occurred.
In September 1972, Paglin conspired with Rabbi Meir Kahane
, Avraham Hershkowitz, and Yosef Schneider, then members of the Jewish Defense League
, to smuggle weapons to Rome and take over the Libyan embassy, kill half of those present, and then escape, as revenge for the murder of the eleven Israeli athletes in Munich
. Paglin had a number of weapon stores, which he had gathered from the Sinai Campaign and the Six Day War. He delivered to Hershkowitz two Carl Gustav submachine guns, two 9mm Beretta pistols, three hand grenades and ammunition for rifles and pistols. The crate, which arrived at the El-Al luggage department disguised as biscuit baking equipment on September 13, aroused suspicion and the contents were discovered. Hershkowitz was arrested on September 15 (and claimed that Kahane had handed them over to the authorities). Paglin was arrested on September 19 and the attorney Shmuel Tamir was hired to represent him. Paglin admitted to Tamir that he gave into temptation and fell victim to one time weakness. Through his aunt, former Knesset Member Beba Idelson
, he sent a message to Prime Minister Golda Meir
saying that he was willing to meet with her and explain that there was no underground movement against the State. During the trial, Tamir hinted that Rabbi Kahane (who was not arrested) had collaborated with the authorities, and questioned why Kahane’s passport wasn’t confiscated. During the trial, Paglin received favorable treatment, and stayed at the police station in Nes Tziona and at the Basel Hotel in Tel Aviv. At the end of the trial those involved received light sentences, and Paglin received a one year suspended sentence. MK Benjamin Halevy
, a former Supreme Court judge, summarized the affair in this way: “As a former Irgun member, with serious experience in the underground, Paglin was caught in a trap by people far less serious.”
When the Likud took power in 1977, Prime Minister Begin appointed Paglin as his counter-terrorism advisor. He invested in this position his characteristic enthusiasm and diligence. However, a few months after his appointment, he was killed in a traffic accident with his wife Tziporah.
The Irgun Museum on the Jaffa coast, Beit Gidi, is named after him.
Irgun
The Irgun , or Irgun Zevai Leumi to give it its full title , was a Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization haHaganah...
, the commander of the battle to conquer Jaffa
Jaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and, following independence, Prime Minister Menachem Begin
Menachem Begin
' was a politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of the State of Israel. Before independence, he was the leader of the Zionist militant group Irgun, the Revisionist breakaway from the larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah. He proclaimed a revolt, on 1 February 1944,...
’s counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism is the practices, tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, militaries, police departments and corporations adopt to prevent or in response to terrorist threats and/or acts, both real and imputed.The tactic of terrorism is available to insurgents and governments...
advisor.
Early life
Paglin's family immigrated from LithuaniaLithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
in 1920, and he was born in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
in 1922. He studied in the elementary school Tel Nordau, and continued in the Balfour high school. He was in the same class as Lechi fighter Eliyahu Bet-Zuri
Eliyahu Bet-Zuri
Eliyahu Bet-Zuri was a member of Lehi, who was executed in Egypt for assassinating Lord Moyne, the British Minister Resident in the Middle East....
and future IDF Chief of Staff Tzvi Tzur
Tzvi Tzur
After his retirement Tzur was appointed as the general manager of Mekorot, Israel's national water company. Under pressure from Moshe Dayan to enter the political fray, in the 1965 elections he was elected to the Knesset on the Rafi list, David Ben-Gurion's party...
.
At a young age he joined the Haganah
Haganah
Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
, and was appointed the signaller of Efraim Dekel, the commander of Shai (the Haganah intelligence unit.) He participated in a squad commander course, and expected to participate in significant operations against the British. However, to his disappointment, he was commanded to scrape posters off walls and to do other simple activities.
Activity in the Irgun
Paglin’s family was associated with the Labor MovementLabor Zionism
Labor Zionism can be described as the major stream of the left wing of the Zionist movement. It was, for many years, the most significant tendency among Zionists and Zionist organizational structure...
. Paglin's older brother, Neriel, was a member of the Hagana's naval unit, the Palyam
Palyam
Palyam was the sea force of the Palmach.-History:Palyam was set up in April 1945 as the Palmach's tenth company which originated from the Palmach's Naval Platoon. The Company's first commander was Abraham Zakai...
, and was an assistant to Haganah commander Yisrael Galili
Yisrael Galili
Yisrael Galili was an Israeli politician, government minister and member of Knesset. Before Israel's independence in 1948, he had served as Chief of Staff of the Haganah.-Biography:...
. Neriel was one of the 23 soldiers on the ship Ari HaYam which sank off of Vichy controlled Lebanon in May 1941, in a mission for the Allies
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
. This frustrated Amichai greatly, who felt that his brother had given his life for the British, and yet the British did not open Palestine to Jewish immigration. This encouraged him to join the more anti-British Irgun.
He joined the “battle brigades” of the Irgun and immediately began acting as a simple soldier. He participated in one of their first operations, the demolition of the Immigration Department in Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
. Afterwards, he participated in an operation against the British Income Tax offices, as well as an attack on the CID
Criminal Investigation Department
The Crime Investigation Department is the branch of all Territorial police forces within the British Police and many other Commonwealth police forces, to which plain clothes detectives belong. It is thus distinct from the Uniformed Branch and the Special Branch.The Metropolitan Police Service CID,...
building in Tel Aviv.
Paglin stood out for his courage, his technical knowledge, his fertile imagination, and his daring and original plans to strike the enemy. Menachem Begin (the leader of the Irgun), would later write about him, “this amazing young man, his military ability borders, without doubt, on the genius…”
In 1946, after the arrest of Eitan Livni
Eitan Livni
Yeruham "Eitan" Livni was a Revisionist Zionist activist, Irgun commander and Israeli politician, father of Israeli politician Tzipi Livni, who is the current leader of the largest party in the Knesset, Kadima.-Biography:...
, the Chief Operations Officer of the Irgun, “Gidi” was appointed to the position in his place. In this position he planned over 200 operations: both against the British, and in the War of Independence, against the Arabs. In many of these attacks, he personally participated.
Paglin planned the King David Hotel bombing
King David Hotel bombing
The King David Hotel bombing was an attack carried out by themilitant right-wing Zionist underground organization Irgun on the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on 22 July 1946...
,the attack on the British Air Force base at Qastina, the Goldschmidt House officers club bombing, the Acre prison break
Acre Prison break
The Acre Prison break was a operation undertaken by the Irgun on May 4, 1947 in the British Mandate of Palestine, in which its men broke through the walls of Acre prison and freed 28 incarcerated Irgun and Lehi members.-Background:...
, and was among the group that executed the two British sergeants
The Sergeants affair
The Sergeants affair was an incident that took place in Mandate Palestine in July 1947 in which the Jewish underground group the Irgun kidnapped two British army Intelligence Corps NCOs, Sergeant Clifford Martin and Sergeant Mervyn Paice, and threatened to kill them if the death sentences passed...
in Netanya
Netanya
Netanya is a city in the Northern Centre District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is located north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa between the 'Poleg' stream and Wingate Institute in the south and the 'Avichail' stream in the north.Its of beaches have made the...
, as a response to the hanging of Irgun members by the British. He also led the battle for the liberation of Jaffa in the War of Independence, and the (unsuccessful) attempt to conquer Ramle.
After the Irgun merged with the Israel Defense Forces
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
in the coastal area, he transferred to Jerusalem, where the Irgun continued as an independent entity. He participated in the joint attempt to break the siege on Jerusalem’s Old City (together with the Haganah and the Lechi).
When the Irgun tried bringing the Altalena
Altalena Affair
The Altalena Affair was a violent confrontation that took place in June 1948 between the newly formed Israel Defense Forces and the Irgun, a right-wing Jewish paramilitary group...
arms ship, Begin did not believe that the IDF would shoot at the Jews of the Irgun. Paglin warned him that they would likely attack, and therefore should direct the ship elsewhere. In the end, Paglin was correct. As the ship was being shelled, Paglin tried to capture the seat of government in Ramat Gan. However, he was detained by IDF soldiers. He eventually managed to escape, but it was too late to help the Altalena or threaten the government.
When all of the military organizations were disbanded and integrated into the IDF, there was an agreement that three commanders from the Irgun would be appointed as generals in the new army. Paglin attempted to be drafted twice, but was rejected due to "health reasons" (apparently by direct order of Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion
' was the first Prime Minister of Israel.Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946...
.)
After 1948
He married Tzipora Perl, who served with him in the underground. Together with his father Gershon, he built a factory in Petah TikvaPetah Tikva
Petah Tikva known as Em HaMoshavot , is a city in the Center District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv.According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 2009, the city's population stood at 209,600. The population density is approximately...
for industrial ovens, which became famous for building the oven in which the Nazi war criminal Adolph Eichmann was burned after his execution in Israel.
Paglin was not active in political life, but continued to deal with military and security matters. However, in 1966, Shmuel Tamir
Shmuel Tamir
Shmuel M. Tamir was a prominent Israeli independence fighter, lawyer, Knesset member from 1965 to 1980, and Minister of Justice in the government of Menachem Begin from 1977 until 1980-Irgun:...
challenged Begin for the leadership of the Herut
Herut
Herut was the major right-wing political party in Israel from the 1940s until its formal merger into Likud in 1988, and an adherent of Revisionist Zionism.-History:...
Party. Tamir invited Paglin to speak, where he attacked the management of the party as well. But when the party recovered from its divisions, Paglin became close with Begin again.
In the period leading up to the Six Day War in 1967, the Mossad
Mossad
The Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
considered a plan to sink a large boat full of mortar
Mortar (masonry)
Mortar is a workable paste used to bind construction blocks together and fill the gaps between them. The blocks may be stone, brick, cinder blocks, etc. Mortar becomes hard when it sets, resulting in a rigid aggregate structure. Modern mortars are typically made from a mixture of sand, a binder...
in the Suez Canal
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...
to prevent all passage. The difficulty was finding a way to sink the boat fast enough before the Egyptians would have a chance to move it. Due to his creativity and experience, Paglin was approached. He quickly came up with plans, but due to the sudden breakout of war, the operation never occurred.
In September 1972, Paglin conspired with Rabbi Meir Kahane
Meir Kahane
Martin David Kahane , also known as Meir Kahane , was an American-Israeli rabbi and ultra-nationalist writer and political figure. He was an ordained Orthodox rabbi and later served as a member of the Israeli Knesset...
, Avraham Hershkowitz, and Yosef Schneider, then members of the Jewish Defense League
Jewish Defense League
The Jewish Defense League is a Jewish organization whose stated goal is to "protect Jews from antisemitism by whatever means necessary"...
, to smuggle weapons to Rome and take over the Libyan embassy, kill half of those present, and then escape, as revenge for the murder of the eleven Israeli athletes in Munich
Munich massacre
The Munich massacre is an informal name for events that occurred during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Bavaria in southern West Germany, when members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and eventually killed by the Palestinian group Black September. Members of Black September...
. Paglin had a number of weapon stores, which he had gathered from the Sinai Campaign and the Six Day War. He delivered to Hershkowitz two Carl Gustav submachine guns, two 9mm Beretta pistols, three hand grenades and ammunition for rifles and pistols. The crate, which arrived at the El-Al luggage department disguised as biscuit baking equipment on September 13, aroused suspicion and the contents were discovered. Hershkowitz was arrested on September 15 (and claimed that Kahane had handed them over to the authorities). Paglin was arrested on September 19 and the attorney Shmuel Tamir was hired to represent him. Paglin admitted to Tamir that he gave into temptation and fell victim to one time weakness. Through his aunt, former Knesset Member Beba Idelson
Beba Idelson
-Biography:Trakhtenbereg was born in Ekaterinoslav in the Russian Empire in 1895. When she was eight, her mother died giving birth to her thirteenth child and at the age of fourteen she lost her father, Yitzhak, as well, and so she, along with her grandmother and brother, had to support the family...
, he sent a message to Prime Minister Golda Meir
Golda Meir
Golda Meir ; May 3, 1898 – December 8, 1978) was a teacher, kibbutznik and politician who became the fourth Prime Minister of the State of Israel....
saying that he was willing to meet with her and explain that there was no underground movement against the State. During the trial, Tamir hinted that Rabbi Kahane (who was not arrested) had collaborated with the authorities, and questioned why Kahane’s passport wasn’t confiscated. During the trial, Paglin received favorable treatment, and stayed at the police station in Nes Tziona and at the Basel Hotel in Tel Aviv. At the end of the trial those involved received light sentences, and Paglin received a one year suspended sentence. MK Benjamin Halevy
Benjamin Halevy
-Biography:Halevy was born Ernst Levi in Weissenfels, Germany and educated at the Universities of Freiburg, Göttingen and Berlin. He immigrated to what was then the British Mandate of Palestine in 1933 after Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, and studied at the Hebrew University of...
, a former Supreme Court judge, summarized the affair in this way: “As a former Irgun member, with serious experience in the underground, Paglin was caught in a trap by people far less serious.”
When the Likud took power in 1977, Prime Minister Begin appointed Paglin as his counter-terrorism advisor. He invested in this position his characteristic enthusiasm and diligence. However, a few months after his appointment, he was killed in a traffic accident with his wife Tziporah.
The Irgun Museum on the Jaffa coast, Beit Gidi, is named after him.
Further reading
- Monument to the Memory of the Irgun Fighters, Liberators of Jaffa, Ministry of Defence, 1986
- The RevoltThe RevoltThe Revolt is a book about the militant Zionist organization Irgun Zvai Leumi, by one of its principal leaders, Menachem Begin...
, Menachem Begin, 1951 - One Chasing a Thousand, Joseph Evron, Philip Simpson (translator from Hebrew), 2009
- Menachem Begin - The Legend and the Man, Eitan Haber, 1978
- Terror out of Zion: the fight for Israeli independence, J. Bowyer Bell, 1996