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Shmuel Yanai
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Shmuel "Samek" Yanai (born 1921) is a former Israeli naval commander and today chair of the Atlit Museum of Illegal Immigration.
Shmuel Poznanski in Warsaw, he came to Mandate Palestine, by himself as a fourteen year old, in 1935. He studied at the Technion — Israel Institute of Technology and settled in kibbutz Neve Eitan in the Beit She'an Valley
941, Yanai joined the Palmach, and in 1943, he entered their naval Group.
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Encyclopedia
Shmuel "Samek" Yanai (born 1921) is a former Israeli naval commander and today chair of the Atlit Museum of Illegal Immigration.
Biography
Born Shmuel Poznanski in Warsaw, he came to Mandate Palestine, by himself as a fourteen year old, in 1935. He studied at the Technion — Israel Institute of Technology and settled in kibbutz Neve Eitan in the Beit She'an Valley
Military career
In 1941, Yanai joined the Palmach, and in 1943, he entered their naval Group. The Naval Group grew, and towards the end of World War II became the Palmach's 10th Company, or the Palyam. When the Palmach was organized into battalions, the Palyam was attached to the Palmach's Staff Battalion (the 4th Battalion).
Samek served in Company 'A', and was commander of two "illegal" ships, Haviva Reik, which sailed from Piraeus on May 28 1946 and arrived in Palestine on June 8 1946 with 462 passengers, and Henrietta Szold, which sailed from Piraeus along with a second, smaller boat named "Rafi" (commanded by Palyam member Arieh (Kipi) Kaplan), and arrived in Palestine on August 12 1946 with 536 passengers. the "Henrietta Szold" engines failed and "Rafi" towed it to the Sirina Island Gulf, where they were delayed a few days until the problem was fixed. On nearing Haifa, the British intercepted the boat, the British destroyer 'Ajax', which had trounced the German battleship 'Graf Spee' in a famous sea battle, rammed the boat, the soldiers boarded and captured the passengers and transferred them to Tent Camp No. 55 near Famagusta, on Cyprus. The escorts remained with them during the first deportation phase and escaped the detention camp with the help of 'Mossad for Aliyah Bet'.
From 1947 until the Israel Independence, he served as commander of Palyam as commander of the first Israeli Navy Flotilla, composed out of four illegal ships. On March 17 1948 the Naval Service (precursor of the Israeli Sea Corps) was established and the Palyam members were ordered to join it.
In 1956, during Operation Kadesh in the Suez Crisis, Yanai captured the Egyptian destroyer 'Ibrahim el Haol' ("Ibraim El H’awell"), which became the IDF ship 'Haifa'.
Civilian career
After leaving the Navy, he built houses in Eilat, and fished in the Red Sea.
He is today chairman of the . He writes his memoirs, publishes books about Palyam (stories of the boats and the members, written in Hebrew and English) and organizes meetings of the veterans of Palmach Navy and Aliyah Bet.
External links
- Official site of Palmach and Palmach Museum in Tel Aviv
- Official site of Palyam (mainly Hebrew, but English section)
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- Aliyah Bet Voyages, part of the Aliyah Bet Project, includes pictures and details of the boats of Aliyah Bet, ports of origin, dates of sailing, dates of arrival in Palestine and the number of immigrants on board. The page entitled List #2 1945 -1948, includes details of both boats, the Haviva Reik and the Henrietta Szold, commanded by Shmuel Yanai
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