Yisrael Galili was an
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
i politician, government minister and member of
KnessetThe Knesset is the legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Operation of the Knesset:...
. Before Israel's independence in 1948, he had served as Chief of Staff of the
HaganahHaganah 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 :...
.
Galili was born in the town of Brailov in the
Russian EmpireThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
(now
UkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The city of Kiev is both the capital and the largest city of...
). His family
immigratedAliyah is the immigration of Jews to Eretz Israel. It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology, and a value in almost all movements of Judaism...
to
PalestinePalestine is a conventional name used, among others, to describe a geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands.As a geographical term, Palestine can also refer to 'ancient Palestine,' an area...
when he was three years old, and settled in
Tel AvivTel Aviv-Yafo , usually called Tel Aviv, is the second largest city in Israel, with an estimated population of 391,300. The city is situated on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline, with a land area of...
. Galili attended school there and apprenticed with a printer.
Galili began his military career in 1927, when he enlisted in the
HaganahHaganah 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 :...
.
Yisrael Galili was an
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
i politician, government minister and member of
KnessetThe Knesset is the legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Operation of the Knesset:...
. Before Israel's independence in 1948, he had served as Chief of Staff of the
HaganahHaganah 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 :...
.
Biography
Galili was born in the town of Brailov in the
Russian EmpireThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
(now
UkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The city of Kiev is both the capital and the largest city of...
). His family
immigratedAliyah is the immigration of Jews to Eretz Israel. It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology, and a value in almost all movements of Judaism...
to
PalestinePalestine is a conventional name used, among others, to describe a geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands.As a geographical term, Palestine can also refer to 'ancient Palestine,' an area...
when he was three years old, and settled in
Tel AvivTel Aviv-Yafo , usually called Tel Aviv, is the second largest city in Israel, with an estimated population of 391,300. The city is situated on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline, with a land area of...
. Galili attended school there and apprenticed with a printer.
Galili began his military career in 1927, when he enlisted in the
HaganahHaganah 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 :...
. He was appointed to the organization's leadership committee in 1935, and was later placed in charge of Acquisitions and Armaments. During the Second World War, he was involved in preparations to counter an anticipated
GermanNazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany between 1933 and 1945, while it was led by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party . The name Third Reich refers to the state as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and the German...
invasion of Palestine. He was appointed Chief of Staff of the Haganah in 1946, and served in that capacity until the group was disbanded by
David Ben-Gurion' was the first Prime Minister of Israel. Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, culminated in his instrumental role in the founding of the state of Israel...
in 1948, upon the establishment of the State of Israel.
Galili was also a founder of the HaNoar HaOved ("Working Youth") youth group, and of
Na'anNa'an is a kibbutz near the city of Rehovot in Israel. Located within the Center District, it is under the jurisdiction of Gezer Regional Council, and borders the villages Ganei Hadar, Ramot Meir and Sitria....
, a
kibbutzA kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
where he lived until his death. He served in the
first KnessetElections for the Constituent Assembly were held in newly-independent Israel on 25 January, 1949. Voter turnout was 85.8%. Two days after its first meeting on 14 February, 1949, legislators voted to change the name of the body to the Knesset...
from 1949 to 1951, and then again from 1955 until 1977, first on behalf of the
MapamMapam was a political party in Israel and is one of the ancestors of the modern-day Meretz party.-History:...
party, before being part of the split that formed
Ahdut HaAvodaAhdut HaAvoda was a political party that existed during several spells in Mandate Palestine and Israel. It is one of the ancestors of the modern-day Israeli Labor Party.-Ahdut HaAvoda:...
and later merged into the
AlignmentThe Alignment was an alliance of the major left-wing parties in Israel between the 1960s and 1990s. It was established in 1965 as an alliance of Mapai and Ahdut HaAvoda but was dissolved three years later when the two parties and Rafi formally merged into the Israeli Labor Party...
. He served briefly as Minister of Information and was
Minister without PortfolioA Minister without Portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister that does not head a particular ministry...
in several governments. One of Prime Minister
Golda MeirGolda Meir was the fourth prime minister of the State of Israel....
's top advisers, and member of her Cabinet, he was also a member of the prestigious Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and on the Ministerial Committee for Settlement.