Shmuel Moshe Tamir (; born Shmuel Katznelson; 10 March 1923 – 29 June 1987) was a prominent Israeli independence fighter, lawyer, and

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 ...

member. After a successful career fighting the British, he entered the Knesset from 1965 to 1980, rising to become Minister of Justice in the government of

Menachem Begin Menachem Begin ( ''Menaḥem Begin'', ; (Polish documents, 1931–1937); ; 16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992) was an Israeli politician, founder of both Herut and Likud and the prime minister of Israel. Before the creation of the state of Isra ...

from 1977 until 1980. Tamir was an ardent anti-Nazi leading proactive legal cases to prosecute perpetrators of the Holocaust and war criminals. Tamir's maverick politics finally led him into an independent politician after several attempts of coalition with nationalist right-wing parties.

Biography

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 ...

, Shmuel was the son of Reuven Katznelson (a member of the Jewish Legion and Joseph Trumpeldor's sergeant and comrade in the Battle of Gallipoli) and Batsheva Katznelson (a member of the Knesset). Two of his uncles were Joseph Katznelson, a companion of

Ze'ev Jabotinsky Ze'ev Jabotinsky (born Vladimir Yevgenyevich Zhabotinsky; 17 October 1880 – 3 August 1940) was a Russian-born author, poet, orator, soldier, and founder of the Revisionist Zionist movement and the Jewish Self-Defense Organization in O ...

and one 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 ...

's two Chiefs of Illegal Immigration and

Avraham Katznelson Avraham Katznelson (; 1888 – 18 May 1956), later known as Avraham Nissan, was a physician and Zionist political figure in Mandate Palestine. He was a signatory of the Israeli Declaration of Independence. Biography Katznelson was born in ...

, one of the signatories of the

Israeli declaration of independence The Israeli Declaration of Independence, formally the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel (), was proclaimed on 14 May 1948 (5 Iyar 5708), at the end of the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war phase and ...

, and his aunt was Rachel Katznelson-Shazar, wife of Zalman Shazar, the third President of Israel.

Irgun activism

Shmuel joined Etzel in 1938 and after the declaration of the Revolt in February 1944, and took part in operations against British targets, most notably the 26 February 1944 attack on income tax offices in Jerusalem. In 1944 he was a commander of the Jerusalem District and commanded the operation that blew up the Income Tax offices in the city; Commander of Intelligence in Jerusalem District. During 1946 he served as Deputy Commander of the Jerusalem District and was in charge of the Irgun Intelligence unit in Jerusalem. Detainees in Gilgil

He was arrested by the British several times, and in March 1947 was exiled to Detention Camps in Kenya where he finished his Law studies. In the camp he served as the Supervisor who represented the detainees to the British Authorities.

Legal and political career

Katzenelson returned home with the last exiles from Kenya on 12 July 1948, after Israeli independence was declared; upon arriving in Israel, he adopted his code name, ''Tamir'' (meaning "tall and slender") as his legal name. He had a notable career as a lawyer and conducted several famous political cases, including the Yedidya Segal and Rudolf Kastner trials. He was one of the founders of

Herut Herut () was the major conservative nationalist political party in Israel from 1948 until its formal merger into Likud in 1988. It was an adherent of Revisionist Zionism. Some of their policies were compared to those of the Nazi party. Early y ...

party, but left in 1952. One of the founders of the "New Regime" in 1957 after the Suez Crisis, he returned to the party in 1964, and in 1965 was elected to the Knesset on the

Gahal Gahal (, an acronym for ''Gush Herut–Liberalim'' (Hebrew: ), ''lit.'' ''Freedom–Liberals Bloc'') was the main right-leaning political alliance in Israel, ranging from the centre-right to right-wing, from its founding in 1965 until the establi ...

list. After Begin announced at the 1966 Herut conference that he intended to retire as party chairman, Tamir, who had been critical of Begin's leadership announced his candidacy for party leader. A month after the convention, Haim Amsterdam, an assistant to Tamir, published an attack on Begin in ''

Ha'aretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew and English in the Berliner fo ...

''; This led to the suspension of Tamir's party membership and with two other Herut MKs, he formed the Free Centre in 1967. After this revolt, Begin returned to party leadership.Yechiam Weitz: "The Road to the 'Upheaval': A Capsule History of the Herut Movement, 1948–1977", in ''Israel Studies'', Fall 2005, Vol. 10, No. 3. Tamir was re-elected in 1969, and again in 1973, by which time his party had merged into

Likud Likud (, ), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement (), is a major Right-wing politics, right-wing, political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon in an alliance with several right-wing par ...

. He resigned from the Knesset in January 1977 to form the Shinui Party, which failed and very soon broke up. Immediately afterwards he decided to join the new centrist party, the Democratic Movement for Change (Dash). He was returned to the Knesset in the 1977 elections on Dash's list, and was appointed Minister of Justice in the Begin government on 24 October. As Dash disintegrated, Tamir joined the Democratic Movement, before leaving to sit as an independent MK (member of the Knesset). He resigned from the cabinet on 5 August 1980 when his party was frozen out of coalition decision-making. At the ensuing 1981 election he lot his seat. Tamir was a supporter of far-right Rabbi Meir Kahane and the Jewish Defense League.

Biography

Irgun activism

Legal and political career

References

Further reading