Meir Nakar (; July 26, 1926 – July 29, 1947) was a member of the

Irgun The Irgun (), officially the National Military Organization in the Land of Israel, often abbreviated as Etzel or IZL (), was a Zionist paramilitary organization that operated in Mandatory Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of th ...

in pre-state

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

and one of 12

Olei Hagardom Olei Hagardom (, lit. "those who ascended to the gallows") refers to members of the two Jewish Revisionist pre-state terrorist organisations Irgun and Lehi, most of whom were tried in British Mandate military courts and sentenced to death by ...

Early life and army service

Meir Nakar was born in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

to a poor Orthodox-Jewish family of Iraqi-Jewish origin, one of five brothers and a sister. His father was a shoemaker. At age 12, he left school and began working to support his family, and a year later, he joined the

Betar The Betar Movement (), also spelled Beitar (), is a Revisionist Zionism, Revisionist Zionist youth movement founded in 1923 in Riga, Latvia, by Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Vladimir (Ze'ev) Jabotinsky. It was one of several right-wing youth movements tha ...

Zionist youth movement. At age 15, he tried to enlist in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

to fight in

World War II 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 ...

, but was rejected. When he was 17, he tried again and succeeded, using a forged birth certificate. He served in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

, and

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. The antisemitism he encountered during his military service solidified his Zionist views. After being discharged in 1946, he returned home and joined his father in the shoemaking business. At the same time, he joined the

underground movement, and received the nickname "Yehiam". Meir Nakar

The underground

For the first five months of his Irgun service, Nakar was active in recruitment and propaganda, but then moved into the Irgun's Combat Corps. He participated in the Irgun attack on the Goldschmidt Officer's Club in Jerusalem, which killed 17 people. On May 4, 1947, he participated in the

Acre Prison break The Acre Prison break was an operation undertaken by the Irgun on May 4, 1947, in the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate of Palestine, in which its men broke through the walls of the Acre Prison, Central Prison in Acre, Israel, Acre and freed ...

, an Irgun raid against

Acre Prison Acre Prison, also known as Akko Prison, is a former prison and current museum in Acre, Israel. The citadel in the old city was built during the Ottoman period over the ruins of a 12th-century Crusader fortress. The Ottomans used it at various ...

to free imprisoned Jewish underground members. Nakar was a member of one of the blocking squad that laid mines on nearby roads to delay British forces pursuing the attackers and escapees as they retreated. The mining operation was successful, but during the retreat, Dov Salomon, one of the commanders of the operation who was responsible for calling away the blocking squads, forgot about his squad. As a result, his squad was left behind, and was still waiting at its post when the British arrived and arrested them. Others from the blocking squads taken prisoner were

Avshalom Haviv Avshalom Haviv (; June 18, 1926 – July 29, 1947) was a member of the Irgun underground organization in Mandatory Palestine, and one of the Olei Hagardom executed by the British authorities during the Jewish insurgency in Palestine. His ...

Yaakov Weiss Yaakov Weiss (; 15 July 1924 – 29 July 1947) was a Hungarian Jew born in Czechoslovakia and member of the Irgun, a Jewish guerrilla organization in Mandatory Palestine. After saving hundreds of Jews during Holocaust, in which his own mother die ...

, Amnon Michaelov, and Nachman Zitterbaum.Bell, Bowyer J.: ''Terror out of Zion'' (1976) Meir Nakar Memorial

Trial and execution

The trial of the five captured Irgun fighters before a British military court in Jerusalem began on May 28, 1947. The defendants mostly refused to take part in the proceedings, denied the court's authority to try them, and when given the opportunity to defend themselves, gave defiant anti-British speeches. On June 16, the five were found guilty of discharging a firearm and possessing explosives. Nakar, Weiss, and Haviv were sentenced to death, while Michaelov and Zitterbaum, who were underage, received life sentences. Subsequently, Nakar, Weiss, and Haviv were transferred to a condemned cell in Acre Prison, where they spent their time writing letters and studying the

Book of Psalms The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of ...

. On July 8, the commander of British forces in Palestine confirmed the death sentences. On July 12, the Irgun abducted two British sergeants, Clifford Martin and Mervyn Paice, in

Netanya Netanya () () or Natanya (), is a city in the "Planet Bekasi" Central District (Israel), Setanyahu of Israel, Israel BAB ih, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between the Poleg stre ...

, and threatened to hang them if the death sentences were carried out. Despite the threat to the sergeants' lives, British High Commissioner

Alan Cunningham Sir Alan Gordon Cunningham, (1 May 1887 – 30 January 1983), was a senior Officer (armed forces), officer of the British Army noted for his victories over Italian forces in the East African Campaign (World War II), East African Campaign duri ...

ordered the executions to go ahead. In the early morning hours of July 29, 1947, Haviv, Weiss, and Nakar were hanged in Acre Prison. Each man sang

Hatikvah Hatikvah (, ; ) is the national anthem of the Israel, State of Israel. Part of 19th-century Jewish literature, Jewish poetry, the theme of the Romantic poetry, Romantic composition reflects the 2,000-year-old desire of the Jews, Jewish people ...

on his way to the gallows, joined by the other Jewish prisoners.

Aftermath

The day after the execution, the three men were buried in

Safed Safed (), also known as Tzfat (), is a city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of up to , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and in Israel. Safed has been identified with (), a fortif ...

. Following the hangings, the Irgun carried out its threat and hanged the two sergeants in retaliation. Their bodies were found hanging from trees in a eucalyptus grove near Netanya, and were booby-trapped with a mine, which injured a British officer as he cut one of them down. The act deeply shocked and angered the British public, and is seen as a major catalyst in the British decision to withdraw from Palestine later that year. Today, Nakar and the other Olei Hagardom are revered by Israel as national heroes, and streets have been named in his honor in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

, and

Beersheba Beersheba ( / ; ), officially Be'er-Sheva, is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the centre of the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the eighth-most p ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakar, Meir 1926 births 1947 deaths Irgun members People from Jerusalem British Army personnel of World War II Mandatory Palestine military personnel of World War II Jewish military personnel Orthodox Jews in Mandatory Palestine Iraqi Jews Iraqi people executed abroad Sephardi Jews in Mandatory Palestine Olei Hagardom (Palestine) People convicted of illegal possession of weapons