Uri Milstein
Encyclopedia
Uri Milstein is an Israel
i military historian
and poet.
to Avraham Milstein, a volunteer in the British army in World War II
, and Sarah Milstein, a kindergarten teacher. He studied at Hayil school in Tel Aviv's Yad Eliyahu
neighborhood, Hadassim youth village
and a high school in Tel Aviv. In 1958, he was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces
and served in the 890th Airborne Battalion of the Paratroopers Brigade as a soldier, squad commander and combat medic. Before being discharged, deputy commander of the brigade, Rafael Eitan
, appointed him as the historian of the paratroopers. He served as a medic in the Six Day War, the War of Attrition
and the Yom Kippur War
, and did his reserve duty in the history department of the Israeli Air Force
.
Milstein is married to the actress Shifra (Ben David) Milstein, with whom he has two daughters. His daughter Dalit is the co-founder and director of Notzar Theater.
, philosophy
and political science
at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
. He wrote his PhD on religion and legislation in Israel. After the Six Day War, he published "War of the Paratroops," and at the beginning of 1973 he published a military history of the early days of Israeli statehood, "In Blood And Fire Yehuda." In the 1980s, he taught military history at the IDF Command and Staff College. In 1989, Milstein published the first volume of his series on the War of Independence, in which he alleged flawed functioning of commanders who were considered heroes in Israel. In 1993, he published "Crisis and Its Conclusion," criticizing the functioning of the IDF in the Yom Kippur War.
In 1995 he published "The Rabin File: How the Myth Was Inflated" about Yitzhak Rabin as a commander of the Palmach. In a police raid of Yigal Amir
's room after the Rabin assassination, "The Rabin File" was one of the books they found. Milstein described Yigal as a "good" and "very interested" student.
Milstein established Survival Institute and a book publishing house called "Survival."
In "The Blood Libel of Dir Yassin – The Black Book," he claims that the Deir Yassin massacre
was a myth created by the Israeli left to prevent the Irgun
from forming an independent unit inside the IDF and keep Menahem Begin out of the first national unity government under David Ben Gurion.
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i military historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
and poet.
Biography
Uri Milstein was born in Tel AvivTel 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...
to Avraham Milstein, a volunteer in the British army in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and Sarah Milstein, a kindergarten teacher. He studied at Hayil school in Tel Aviv's Yad Eliyahu
Yad Eliyahu
Yad Eliyahu is a neighborhood in the south-east part of Tel Aviv, Israel. The neighborhood was established in 1945 mainly for british army veterans, especially from the local population...
neighborhood, Hadassim youth village
Youth village
A youth village is a boarding school model first developed in Mandate Palestine in the 1930s to care for groups of children and teenagers fleeing the Nazis...
and a high school in Tel Aviv. In 1958, he was drafted into 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...
and served in the 890th Airborne Battalion of the Paratroopers Brigade as a soldier, squad commander and combat medic. Before being discharged, deputy commander of the brigade, Rafael Eitan
Rafael Eitan
Rafael "Raful" Eitan was an Israeli general, former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces and later a politician, a Knesset member government minister...
, appointed him as the historian of the paratroopers. He served as a medic in the Six Day War, the War of Attrition
War of Attrition
The international community and both countries attempted to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict. The Jarring Mission of the United Nations was supposed to ensure that the terms of UN Security Council Resolution 242 would be observed, but by late 1970 it was clear that this mission had been...
and the Yom Kippur War
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...
, and did his reserve duty in the history department of the Israeli Air Force
Israeli Air Force
The Israeli Air Force is the air force of the State of Israel and the aerial arm of the Israel Defense Forces. It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Independence...
.
Milstein is married to the actress Shifra (Ben David) Milstein, with whom he has two daughters. His daughter Dalit is the co-founder and director of Notzar Theater.
Academic career
After completing his service in the IDF in 1960, he studied economicsEconomics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
. He wrote his PhD on religion and legislation in Israel. After the Six Day War, he published "War of the Paratroops," and at the beginning of 1973 he published a military history of the early days of Israeli statehood, "In Blood And Fire Yehuda." In the 1980s, he taught military history at the IDF Command and Staff College. In 1989, Milstein published the first volume of his series on the War of Independence, in which he alleged flawed functioning of commanders who were considered heroes in Israel. In 1993, he published "Crisis and Its Conclusion," criticizing the functioning of the IDF in the Yom Kippur War.
In 1995 he published "The Rabin File: How the Myth Was Inflated" about Yitzhak Rabin as a commander of the Palmach. In a police raid of Yigal Amir
Yigal Amir
Yigal Amir is the Israeli assassin of Prime Minister of Israel Yitzhak Rabin. The assassination took place on November 4, 1995 at the conclusion of a rally in Tel Aviv. Amir is currently serving a life sentence for murder plus six years for injuring Rabin's bodyguard, Yoram Rubin, under...
's room after the Rabin assassination, "The Rabin File" was one of the books they found. Milstein described Yigal as a "good" and "very interested" student.
Milstein established Survival Institute and a book publishing house called "Survival."
Views and opinions
Milstein was one of the first academics to openly criticize the Israeli defense establishment. He is described as being too extreme in his conclusions, but his "contribution to the knowledge is enormous and he is willing to suffer his devotion to the truth."In "The Blood Libel of Dir Yassin – The Black Book," he claims that the Deir Yassin massacre
Deir Yassin massacre
The Deir Yassin massacre took place on April 9, 1948, when around 120 fighters from the Irgun Zevai Leumi and Lohamei Herut Israel Zionist paramilitary groups attacked Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, a Palestinian-Arab village of roughly 600 people...
was a myth created by the Israeli left to prevent the Irgun
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...
from forming an independent unit inside the IDF and keep Menahem Begin out of the first national unity government under David Ben Gurion.
Military history
- The Blond Bear, 1970 Ramdor Publishers
- The War Of The Paratroopers, 2 vols. 1968
- The History of the Paratroopers, 4 vols. 1985–1987
- History Of Israel's War of Independence, 4 vols. out of 12 projected, 1996–1999. University Press of America
- History of the War of Independence: A nation girds for war, Volume 1 of History of the War of Independence, Uri Milstein, Allan Sacks, ISBN 0761803726, 9780761803720
- History of the War of Independence: The first month, Volume 2 of History of the War of Independence, Uri Milstein, Allan Sacks, ISBN 0761807217, 9780761807216
- The Shaked Patrol, Miskal Publishers, 1994.
- The Rabin File: An Unauthorized Expose (English), 2000, Authors: Uri Milstein, Aryeh ʻAmit, Gefen Publishing House, ISBN 965229196X, 9789652291967, 472 pages
- The Rabin File – The Myth And Its Collapse 2005 Survival Institute Publishers
- Blood Libel at Deir Yassin – The Black Book 2007 National Midrasha Publishers and Survival Institute Publishers. The book presents testimonies refuting the claim that a force of the IrgunIrgunThe 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...
underground committed a massacre at the Arab village of Deir YassinDeir YassinDeir Yassin was a Palestinian Arab village of around 600 people near Jerusalem. It had declared its neutrality during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine between Arabs and Jews...
in the 1948 war, and accuses leaders of the Israeli community of promoting the massacre story to discredit their political opponents.
Critique of Military Reason Series
- The Outbreak of War 1992
- The Crossing Which Wasn't 1992. Yaron GolanYaron GolanYaron Golan was an Israeli publisher.Yaron Golan, originally a literature columnist in Haaretz, established a publishing company in 1990. While refusing to submit to conventional rules of publishing only popular or profitable books, he used to take on himself to publish every book submitted to...
Publishers - The Lesson of a Collapse 1993. Survival Publishers And Yediot Ahronot
Critique of the Present Civilization Series
- Razmach, Pamphlets Of Literature, 1970.
- "The General Theory of Security – the Survival Principle", (English & Hebrew) 1999 Survival Institute Publishers
- "New Administration for Israel – An Intellectual-Political Alternative", 1993 (English & Hebrew)
- "An End to Life", 1994 Survival Institute Publishers (English & Hebrew)
- "The Oasis of Dreams, The Legend of Hadassim", 2006 Survival Publishing, (English & Hebrew), (an autobiography of The Generation of the State)