Yehudah Arazi
Encyclopedia
Yehuda Arazi code name Alon, was a Polish Jew active in 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 :...

 paramilitary in Palestine and subsequently the Israeli Defense Force after the creation of Israel.

Biography

Arazi was born in Lodz
Lódz
Łódź is the third-largest city in Poland. Located in the central part of the country, it had a population of 742,387 in December 2009. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is approximately south-west of Warsaw...

 in 1907. He immigrated with his parents to 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 1924, studying in the Gymnasia Herzlia. While in Palestine, Arazi 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 the Palestine Police Force
Palestine Police Force
The Palestine Police Force was a British colonial police service established in the British Mandate for Palestine on 1 July 1920, when High Commissioner Herbert Samuel's civil administration took over responsibility for security from General Allenby's Occupied Enemy Territory Administration...

. As a police officer, he was most notably involved as the investigating officer in the 1933 murder of Chaim Arlosoroff
Chaim Arlosoroff
Haim Arlozoroff was a Zionist leader in Palestine during the era of the British Mandate for Palestine and head of the political department of the Jewish Agency. Arlosoroff was assassinated while walking on the beach in Tel Aviv in 1933....

. In 1936, Arazi was sent back to Poland to help smuggle matériel
Materiel
Materiel is a term used in English to refer to the equipment and supplies in military and commercial supply chain management....

 to Palestine.

In 1943 he "confiscated" 5,000 rifles from the British Police for the Haganah and had to go into hiding. From 1945 to 1948 he was in the Mossad LeAliyah Bet, commander of the Italy “station” and involved in the “La Spezia
La Spezia
La Spezia , at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the Liguria region of northern Italy, is the capital city of the province of La Spezia. Located between Genoa and Pisa on the Ligurian Sea, it is one of the main Italian military and commercial harbours and hosts one of Italy's biggest military...

” affair.

After the independence of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 in 1948, Arazi became a private businessman and built the Ramat Aviv Hotel. He died in 1959.

Arazi and the La Spezia affair gave the inspiration to Leon Uris
Leon Uris
Leon Marcus Uris was an American novelist, known for his historical fiction and the deep research that went into his novels. His two bestselling books were Exodus, published in 1958, and Trinity, in 1976.-Life:...

 for Ari Ben Canaan in Exodus
Exodus (novel)
Exodus by American novelist Leon Uris is about the founding of the State of Israel. Published in 1958, it is based on the name of the 1947 immigration ship Exodus....

.
Arazi was known as “King of Ruses” changing disguises and characters according to needs.
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