Yosef Avni (; December 25, 1924 - February 3, 2021) was an

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 ...

fighter. He was born Yosef Danoch 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 ...

, British Mandate of Palestine, to

Yemenite Jewish Yemenite Jews, also known as Yemeni Jews or Teimanim (from ; ), are a Jewish diaspora group who live, or once lived, in Yemen, and their descendants maintaining their customs. After several waves of persecution, the vast majority of Yemenite J ...

immigrants. He changed his name to Avni (his underground identity) after the establishment of the State of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

in 1948. Avni went to work as a locksmith at a young age, to help provide for his family (he learned his job at his cousins' workshop, the Sabah brothers). At the age of 16 he joined

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 ...

, leaving four years later (in 1942) for the Irgun. After the declaration of the Revolt against the British authorities (February 1944), Avni became part of the fighting force, and on top of being in charge of an arms dump in Jerusalem took part in many operations. Avni commanded the

sapper A sapper, also called a combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, preparing field defenses ...

s unit during the second attack on the British intelligence offices in the Russian Compound in Jerusalem on December 27, 1945, in which the building was destroyed and seven British policemen and an Irgun fighter were killed. He also took part in the

King David Hotel bombing The British administrative headquarters for Mandatory Palestine, housed in the southern wing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, were bombed in a terrorist attack on 22 July 1946, by the militant right-wing Zionist underground organization I ...

, being one of the senior commanders of the operation, and the bombing of the British Army base at Camp Schneller, personally lighting the fuses on mines that the raiders had set. Avni was arrested in 1947 and detained by the British in Latrun Camp. He was released in March 1948, and was wounded attacking the Muchtar's house during the events of the

Deir Yassin massacre The Deir Yassin massacre took place on April 9, 1948, when Zionist paramilitaries attacked the village of Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, then part of Mandatory Palestine, killing at least 107 Palestinian Arab villagers, including women and childr ...

. During the

1948 Arab-Israeli War Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

, he took part in

Operation Kedem Operation Kedem was an action planned and carried out by Irgun and Lehi forces in July 1948, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli war. Its purpose was to capture East Jerusalem, including the Old City. After the first cease-fire of the Arab–Israeli ...

References

Yosef Avni
Prof. Yehuda Lapidot, The Irgun Site. {{DEFAULTSORT:Avni, Yosef 1924 births 2021 deaths Bombers (people) Burials at Har HaMenuchot Irgun members Israeli people of Yemeni-Jewish descent Israeli military personnel of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War Israeli people wounded in the 1947–1949 Palestine war Israeli prisoners and detainees People of the Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine Prisoners and detainees of the British military