Nathan Yellin-Mor
Encyclopedia
Nathan Yellin-Mor was a Revisionist Zionist
activist, Lehi
leader and Israel
i politician. In his later years, he became a radical pacifist who supported negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organization
and big concessions in the Israeli-Arab conflict.
(now Belarus
). He studied engineering at the Warsaw Polytechnic. He was active in Betar
and Irgun
in Poland. Between 1938 and 1939 he was the coeditor, along with Avraham Stern
(Yair), of Di Tat ("The State"), the Irgun's newspaper in Poland. He immigrated
clandestinely with Stern to the British Mandate of Palestine and joined Lehi
, a Jewish paramilitary group, Lohamei Herut Yisrael (Hebrew acronym LHI - in English, Fighters for the Freedom of Israel; called by the British the Stern gang).
In December 1941, Stern assigned Yellin-Mor to travel to Turkey to seek an agreement with Nazi Germany, who had failed to respond to Stern's 1940 offer of an alliance. He later asserted that his motive was to rescue the Jews of the Balkans, though his biographer Heller finds this doubtful. He was arrested near Aleppo
before reaching enemy territory.
Repatriated, he was put into detention by the British at Latrun
managed to dig a 74 metre tunnel, and together with 19 comrades, escape in 1943. After Stern's death, he became a member of the Lehi guiding triumvirate, with Israel Eldad
as chief of Lehi propaganda and Yitzhak Shamir
as operations chief. Yellin-Mor looked after Lehi's political interests.
He was one of the planners of the assassination of Lord Moyne. He saw the struggle against the British in an international context, and advocated collaboration with other anti-colonialist forces, including Palestinian
and other Arab
forces. After the Deir Yassin massacre
, he privately confronted Eldad.
In 1948 he formed a political party, the Fighters List, and was elected to the First Knesset, from 1949 to 1951, where he was a member of the Internal Affairs committee.
After the assassination in September 1948 of United Nations
emissary Count Folke Bernadotte
, he was arrested along with Lehi member Matityahu Shmuelevitch and charged with leadership of a terrorist organization. They were found guilty on January 25, 1949, the day on which Yellin-Mor was elected to the Knesset
. On February 10, 1949, Yellin-Mor was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment. Though the court was confident that Lehi was responsible for Bernadotte's death, it did not find sufficient evidence that it was sanctioned by the Lehi leadership. The court offered to release the defendants if they agreed to certain conditions that included forswearing underground activity and submitting to police supervision, but they rejected the offer. However the Provisional State Council soon authorised their pardon.
In 1949, he denounced the Partition of Palestine as "bartering with the territory of the homeland" and opposed the Palestinian right of return
. Later, he moved increasingly to the left, in a return to the pro-Soviet position of some Lehi militants in the 1940s, by advocating a pro-Soviet foreign policy. He also turned a new leaf and dedicated his later years to working for reconciliation with the Palestinians, promoting negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organisation. In 1956 he helped found the group Semitic Action
, whose journal Etgar ("Challenge") he edited.
Revisionist Zionism
Revisionist Zionism is a nationalist faction within the Zionist movement. It is the founding ideology of the non-religious right in Israel, and was the chief ideological competitor to the dominant socialist Labor Zionism...
activist, Lehi
Lehi (group)
Lehi , commonly referred to in English as the Stern Group or Stern Gang, was a militant Zionist group founded by Avraham Stern in the British Mandate of Palestine...
leader and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i politician. In his later years, he became a radical pacifist who supported negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organization
Palestine Liberation Organization
The Palestine Liberation Organization is a political and paramilitary organization which was created in 1964. It is recognized as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people" by the United Nations and over 100 states with which it holds diplomatic relations, and has enjoyed...
and big concessions in the Israeli-Arab conflict.
Biography
Friedman-Yellin (or Yalin ) was born in Grodno in the Russian EmpireRussian Empire
The 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 Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
). He studied engineering at the Warsaw Polytechnic. He was active in Betar
Betar
The Betar Movement is a Revisionist Zionist youth movement founded in 1923 in Riga, Latvia, by Vladimir Jabotinsky. It has been traditionally linked to the original Herut and then Likud political parties of Israel, and was closely affiliated with the pre-Israel Revisionist Zionist splinter group...
and Irgun
Irgun
The Irgun , or Irgun Zevai Leumi to give it its full title , was a Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization haHaganah...
in Poland. Between 1938 and 1939 he was the coeditor, along with Avraham Stern
Avraham Stern
Avraham Stern , alias Yair was a Jewish paramilitary leader who founded and led the militant Zionist organization later known as Lehi .-Early life:Stern was born in Suwałki, Poland...
(Yair), of Di Tat ("The State"), the Irgun's newspaper in Poland. He immigrated
Aliyah
Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...
clandestinely with Stern to the British Mandate of Palestine and joined Lehi
Lehi (group)
Lehi , commonly referred to in English as the Stern Group or Stern Gang, was a militant Zionist group founded by Avraham Stern in the British Mandate of Palestine...
, a Jewish paramilitary group, Lohamei Herut Yisrael (Hebrew acronym LHI - in English, Fighters for the Freedom of Israel; called by the British the Stern gang).
In December 1941, Stern assigned Yellin-Mor to travel to Turkey to seek an agreement with Nazi Germany, who had failed to respond to Stern's 1940 offer of an alliance. He later asserted that his motive was to rescue the Jews of the Balkans, though his biographer Heller finds this doubtful. He was arrested near Aleppo
Aleppo
Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...
before reaching enemy territory.
Repatriated, he was put into detention by the British at Latrun
Latrun
Latrun is a strategic hilltop in the Ayalon Valley in Israel overlooking the road to Jerusalem. It is located 25 kilometers west of Jerusalem and 14 kilometers southeast of Ramla.-Etymology:...
managed to dig a 74 metre tunnel, and together with 19 comrades, escape in 1943. After Stern's death, he became a member of the Lehi guiding triumvirate, with Israel Eldad
Israel Eldad
Israel Eldad , was a noted Israeli independence fighter and Revisionist Zionist philosopher...
as chief of Lehi propaganda and Yitzhak Shamir
Yitzhak Shamir
' is a former Israeli politician, the seventh Prime Minister of Israel, in 1983–84 and 1986–92.-Biography:Icchak Jeziernicky was born in Ruzhany , Russian Empire . He studied at a Hebrew High School in Białystok, Poland. As a youth he joined Betar, the Revisionist Zionist youth movement...
as operations chief. Yellin-Mor looked after Lehi's political interests.
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
and other Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
forces. After the Deir Yassin massacre
Deir Yassin massacre
The Deir Yassin massacre took place on April 9, 1948, when around 120 fighters from the Irgun Zevai Leumi and Lohamei Herut Israel Zionist paramilitary groups attacked Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, a Palestinian-Arab village of roughly 600 people...
, he privately confronted Eldad.
In 1948 he formed a political party, the Fighters List, and was elected to the First Knesset, from 1949 to 1951, where he was a member of the Internal Affairs committee.
After the assassination in September 1948 of United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
emissary Count Folke Bernadotte
Folke Bernadotte
Folke Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg was a Swedish diplomat and nobleman noted for his negotiation of the release of about 31,000 prisoners from German concentration camps during World War II, including 450 Danish Jews from Theresienstadt released on 14 April 1945...
, he was arrested along with Lehi member Matityahu Shmuelevitch and charged with leadership of a terrorist organization. They were found guilty on January 25, 1949, the day on which Yellin-Mor was elected to the Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
. On February 10, 1949, Yellin-Mor was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment. Though the court was confident that Lehi was responsible for Bernadotte's death, it did not find sufficient evidence that it was sanctioned by the Lehi leadership. The court offered to release the defendants if they agreed to certain conditions that included forswearing underground activity and submitting to police supervision, but they rejected the offer. However the Provisional State Council soon authorised their pardon.
In 1949, he denounced the Partition of Palestine as "bartering with the territory of the homeland" and opposed the Palestinian right of return
Palestinian right of return
The Palestinian right of return is a political position or principle asserting that Palestinian refugees, both first-generation refugees and their descendants, have a right to return, and a right to the property they or their forebears left or which they were forced to leave in what is now Israel...
. Later, he moved increasingly to the left, in a return to the pro-Soviet position of some Lehi militants in the 1940s, by advocating a pro-Soviet foreign policy. He also turned a new leaf and dedicated his later years to working for reconciliation with the Palestinians, promoting negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organisation. In 1956 he helped found the group Semitic Action
Semitic Action
Semitic Action was a small Israeli political group of the 1950s and 1960s which sought the creation of a regional federation encompassing Israel and its Arab neighbors. Created in 1956, the group's key members were Uri Avnery, Natan Yellin-Mor, and Boaz Evron, with other members including Maxim...
, whose journal Etgar ("Challenge") he edited.