Yisrael Galili (; 10 February 1911 – 8 February 1986) was an Israeli politician, government minister and member of

Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

. Before Israel's independence in 1948, he served as Chief of Staff of

Haganah Haganah ( , ) was the main Zionist political violence, Zionist paramilitary organization that operated for the Yishuv in the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine. It was founded in 1920 to defend the Yishuv's presence in the reg ...

, the main Zionist paramilitary organization that operated for the

Yishuv The Yishuv (), HaYishuv Ha'ivri (), or HaYishuv HaYehudi Be'Eretz Yisra'el () was the community of Jews residing in Palestine prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. The term came into use in the 1880s, when there were about 2 ...

in the

British Mandate for Palestine The Mandate for Palestine was a League of Nations mandate for British administration of the territories of Palestine and Transjordanwhich had been part of the Ottoman Empire for four centuriesfollowing the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in Wo ...

Biography

Yisrael Berchenko (later Galili) was born in the town of Brailiv in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

(now

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

). His family

immigrated Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

to Palestine when he was three years old and settled in Jaffa. Galili attended school there and apprenticed to be a printer. Israel Galili Yoav

Galili was a founder of the

HaNoar HaOved Histadrut HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed (), most commonly translated as Working and Studying Youth and colloquially known as Noar HaOved and abbreviated No'al (), is an Israeli youth movement, a sister movement of Habonim Dror, and affiliated with the ...

("Working Youth") youth group, and of

Na'an Na'an () is a kibbutz near the city of Rehovot in Israel. Located within the Central District, it falls under the jurisdiction of Gezer Regional Council and borders the villages of Ganei Hadar, Ramot Meir and Sitria. Founded in 1930, it is t ...

, a

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

where he lived until his death.

Military career

Galili began his military career in 1927, when he enlisted in the

. 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 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he was involved in preparations to counter an anticipated

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

invasion of Palestine. He was appointed Chief of Staff of the Haganah in 1946, and served in that capacity until June 1948 when he was removed by

David Ben-Gurion David Ben-Gurion ( ; ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary List of national founders, national founder and first Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister of the State of Israel. As head of the Jewish Agency ...

in what was called the "Generals' Revolt".

Political career

He served in the

first Knesset Constituent Assembly elections were held in newly independent Israel on 25 January 1949. Voter turnout was 86.9%. Two days after its first meeting on 14 February 1949, legislators voted to change the name of the body to the Knesset (Hebrew: כ ...

from 1949 to 1951, and then again from 1955 until 1977, first on behalf of the

Mapam File:Pre-State_Zionist_Workers'_Parties_chart.png, chart of zionist workers parties, 360px, right rect 167 83 445 250 Hapoel Hatzair rect 450 88 717 265 The non-partisans (pre-state Zionist political movement), Non Partisans rect 721 86 995 243 ...

party, before being part of the split that formed

Ahdut HaAvoda Ahdut HaAvoda () was the name used by a series of List of political parties in Israel, political parties in Israel. Ahdut HaAvoda in its first incarnation was led by David Ben-Gurion. It was first established during the period of Mandatory Pales ...

and later merged into the

Alignment Alignment may refer to: Archaeology * Alignment (archaeology), a co-linear arrangement of features or structures with external landmarks * Stone alignment, a linear arrangement of upright, parallel megalithic standing stones Biology * Struc ...

. He served briefly as

Minister of Information An information minister (also called minister of information) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with information matters; it is often linked with censorship and propaganda. Sometimes the position is given t ...

and was

Minister without Portfolio A minister without portfolio is a government minister without specific responsibility as head of a government department. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet with decision-making authorit ...

in several governments. One of Prime Minister

Golda Meir Golda Meir (; 3 May 1898 – 8 December 1978) was the prime minister of Israel, serving from 1969 to 1974. She was Israel's first and only female head of government. Born into a Jewish family in Kyiv, Kiev, Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine) ...

'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.

Victor John Ostrovsky Victor John Ostrovsky (; born 28 November 1949) is an Israeli-Canadian author and intelligence officer who was a case officer in the Israeli Mossad for 14 months before his dismissal. After leaving the Mossad, Ostrovsky authored two books about ...

, a self-proclaimed former ''

katsa The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (), popularly known as Mossad ( , ), is the national intelligence agency of the State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with Aman (mi ...

'' (case officer) for the Israeli

Mossad The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (), popularly known as Mossad ( , ), is the national intelligence agency of the Israel, State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with M ...

(foreign intelligence service) claimed in his book ''By Way of Deception'' that Galili had a lengthy affair with Golda Meir who was some 13 years his senior.Ostrovsky, Victor and Hoy, Claire (1990) ''By Way of Deception - The Making and Unmaking of a Mossad Officer'' . Page 190.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Galili, Yisrael 1911 births 1986 deaths Politicians from Vinnytsia Oblast Ahdut HaAvoda politicians Alignment (Israel) politicians Government ministers of Israel Haganah members Israeli Labor Party politicians Israeli military personnel of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War Jewish National Council members Jewish socialists Mapam politicians Members of the 1st Knesset (1949–1951) Members of the 3rd Knesset (1955–1959) Members of the 4th Knesset (1959–1961) Members of the 5th Knesset (1961–1965) Members of the 6th Knesset (1965–1969) Members of the 7th Knesset (1969–1974) Members of the 8th Knesset (1974–1977) Jews from the Russian Empire Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the Ottoman Empire Immigrants to Ottoman Palestine People from Na'an Immigrants of the Second Aliyah Ministers without Portfolio of Israel