Yehoshua Cohen
Encyclopedia
Yehoshua Cohen was a leading member of Lehi
, a Zionist
militant group, who fired the fatal shots in the assassination
of United Nations
envoy Folke Bernadotte
on September 17, 1948. Cohen was never charged for his role in the assassination, and was one of the founders of the Sde Boker
kibbutz
in the Negev Desert, where David Ben-Gurion
later lived. While Ben-Gurion lived at Sde Boker, he and Cohen became close friends.
In September 1942, Cohen helped Lehi leader Yitzhak Shamir
escape from a British prison
. Cohen smuggled two Polish Army uniforms to Shamir and another prisoner, Eliahu Gilaldi, who disguised themselves in the uniforms and then crawled under the barbed wire surrounding the prison. For his role in the escape, Cohen became recognized as "Lehi's most valued fighter".
After helping Shamir escape from prison, Cohen became a leader in Lehi. He trained members in the tactics of guerilla warfare, and taught them how to build bombs and land mines.
, the British Minister of State for the Middle East
. Yitzhak Shamir originally planned the assassination, and chose Eliyahu Bet-Zuri
and Eliyahu Hakim
to carry it out. Cohen was picked to train the two assassins for their mission, and traveled from Tel Aviv
to spend several weeks training the two in Jerusalem. After the assassination, Cohen became "a legend" within Lehi, and a reward was once again offered for his capture.
After the attack, Cohen was also involved in planning an attack on Harold MacMichael
that failed. Shortly thereafter, Cohen was apprehended by the British and sent to a detention centre in Africa. On July 6, 1948, the British released Cohen, along with a large number of other detainees in response to Israel's independence.
, a United Nations mediator, "deserved a bullet", for his efforts to negotiate an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Lehi leadership approved of the assassination, and Yehoshua Zeitler began to make plans for it. Cohen was chosen to lead the actual attack on Bernadotte and picked two other long-time members: Yitzhak Ben Moshe and Avraham Steinberg, to join him.
Cohen began training his team in West Jerusalem in August, practicing with the weapons and tactics they would use in the assassination. During the planning stage, Zetler and Cohen chose to ambush Bernadotte on a narrow road in the Katamon neighborhood, blocking his vehicle with a Jeep
across the road and then attacking.
On September 17, 1948, Cohen and his team put their plan into action. As planned, they placed a Jeep across the road to stop Bernadotte's convoy at around 5:00 PM. Moshe and Steinberg then opened fire on the tires of Bernadotte's vehicle, while Cohen fired inside the car with a MP40
machine gun, killing Bernadotte and his aide, Andre Serot.
After the attack, the identity of the assassins remained unclear for some time. Various nations accused each other of complicity in the attack, but eventually it became clear that Lehi was responsible. Although it was an open secret
within Lehi and other groups that Cohen was behind the killing, his role was not made public for over forty years.
kibbutz
, established in 1952. The kibbutz later became home to David Ben-Gurion
, the former Prime Minister of Israel
, in 1956. At Sde Boker, Cohen became Ben-Gurion's unofficial bodyguard and confidant, and the two grew very close. According to a New York Times article from 1964, Cohen became Ben-Gurion's "closest companion." Cohen also served as the head of security at Sde Boker.
claimed for a number of years that Cohen had confessed in his role in the attack to Ben-Gurion, but Cohen never responded to these claims publicly.
Cohen died at Sde Boker of a heart attack in 1986, with his role in the attack still unclear, but in 1988 two of his co-conspirators in the attack: Yehoshua Zeitler and Meshulam Markover, publicly confessed to their role in the attacks and confirmed that Cohen killed Bernadotte.
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 Zionist
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
militant group, who fired the fatal shots in the assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
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...
envoy 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...
on September 17, 1948. Cohen was never charged for his role in the assassination, and was one of the founders of the Sde Boker
Sde Boker
Sde Boker is a kibbutz in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Best known as the retirement home of Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, it falls under the jurisdiction of Ramat HaNegev Regional Council.-History:...
kibbutz
Kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
in the Negev Desert, where David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion
' was the first Prime Minister of Israel.Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946...
later lived. While Ben-Gurion lived at Sde Boker, he and Cohen became close friends.
Early life and activity
Cohen was born in the British Mandate of Palestine in 1922, the son of a farmer. He joined the Lehi at age sixteen, and soon became a prominent fighter within the organization. In 1942, after the arrest of a number of Lehi members, Cohen was "among the few who remained at large and recruited a new generation" of members. During the period, Cohen escaped the authorities despite a $3,000 bounty on his head, and in addition to recruiting new members, he practiced his marksmanship, training for future missions.In September 1942, Cohen helped Lehi leader 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...
escape from a British prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
. Cohen smuggled two Polish Army uniforms to Shamir and another prisoner, Eliahu Gilaldi, who disguised themselves in the uniforms and then crawled under the barbed wire surrounding the prison. For his role in the escape, Cohen became recognized as "Lehi's most valued fighter".
After helping Shamir escape from prison, Cohen became a leader in Lehi. He trained members in the tactics of guerilla warfare, and taught them how to build bombs and land mines.
Moyne assassination
In 1944, the leaders of Lehi decided to assassinate Lord MoyneWalter Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne
Walter Edward Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne DSO & Bar PC was a Anglo-Irish politician and businessman. He served as the British minister of state in the Middle East until November 1944, when he was assassinated by the militant Jewish Zionist group Lehi...
, the British Minister of State for the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
. Yitzhak Shamir originally planned the assassination, and chose Eliyahu Bet-Zuri
Eliyahu Bet-Zuri
Eliyahu Bet-Zuri was a member of Lehi, who was executed in Egypt for assassinating Lord Moyne, the British Minister Resident in the Middle East....
and Eliyahu Hakim
Eliyahu Hakim
Eliyahu Hakim was a Lehi member who took part in the 1944 assassination of Lord Moyne, the British Minister Resident in the Middle East.Born in Beirut, Hakim moved to Mandatory Palestine with his family when he was seven. He grew up in the port city of Haifa. As a teenager, he joined Lehi, but...
to carry it out. Cohen was picked to train the two assassins for their mission, and traveled from Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
to spend several weeks training the two in Jerusalem. After the assassination, Cohen became "a legend" within Lehi, and a reward was once again offered for his capture.
After the attack, Cohen was also involved in planning an attack on Harold MacMichael
Harold MacMichael
Sir Harold Alfred MacMichael, GCMG, DSO , was a British colonial administrator.-Early service:MacMichael graduated with a first from Magdalene College, Cambridge. After passing his civil service exam, he entered the service of the British Empire in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan...
that failed. Shortly thereafter, Cohen was apprehended by the British and sent to a detention centre in Africa. On July 6, 1948, the British released Cohen, along with a large number of other detainees in response to Israel's independence.
Assassination of Bernadotte
In 1948, the Lehi leadership decided that Folke BernadotteFolke 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...
, a United Nations mediator, "deserved a bullet", for his efforts to negotiate an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Lehi leadership approved of the assassination, and Yehoshua Zeitler began to make plans for it. Cohen was chosen to lead the actual attack on Bernadotte and picked two other long-time members: Yitzhak Ben Moshe and Avraham Steinberg, to join him.
Cohen began training his team in West Jerusalem in August, practicing with the weapons and tactics they would use in the assassination. During the planning stage, Zetler and Cohen chose to ambush Bernadotte on a narrow road in the Katamon neighborhood, blocking his vehicle with a Jeep
Jeep
Jeep is an automobile marque of Chrysler . The first Willys Jeeps were produced in 1941 with the first civilian models in 1945, making it the oldest off-road vehicle and sport utility vehicle brand. It inspired a number of other light utility vehicles, such as the Land Rover which is the second...
across the road and then attacking.
On September 17, 1948, Cohen and his team put their plan into action. As planned, they placed a Jeep across the road to stop Bernadotte's convoy at around 5:00 PM. Moshe and Steinberg then opened fire on the tires of Bernadotte's vehicle, while Cohen fired inside the car with a MP40
MP40
The MP 38 and MP 40 , often called Schmeisser, were submachine guns developed in Nazi Germany and used extensively by paratroopers, tank crews, platoon and squad leaders, and other troops during World War II.-Development:The MP 40 descended from its predecessor, the MP 38, which was in turn based...
machine gun, killing Bernadotte and his aide, Andre Serot.
After the attack, the identity of the assassins remained unclear for some time. Various nations accused each other of complicity in the attack, but eventually it became clear that Lehi was responsible. Although it was an open secret
Open secret
An open secret is a concept or idea that is "officially" secret or restricted in knowledge, but is actually widely known; or refers to something which is widely known to be true, but which none of the people most intimately concerned are willing to categorically acknowledge in public.Examples of...
within Lehi and other groups that Cohen was behind the killing, his role was not made public for over forty years.
Later life and friendship with Ben-Gurion
After the assassination, Cohen was one of the founders of the Sde BokerSde Boker
Sde Boker is a kibbutz in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Best known as the retirement home of Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, it falls under the jurisdiction of Ramat HaNegev Regional Council.-History:...
kibbutz
Kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
, established in 1952. The kibbutz later became home to David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion
' was the first Prime Minister of Israel.Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946...
, the former Prime Minister of Israel
Prime Minister of Israel
The Prime Minister of Israel is the head of the Israeli government and the most powerful political figure in Israel . The prime minister is the country's chief executive. The official residence of the prime minister, Beit Rosh Hamemshala is in Jerusalem...
, in 1956. At Sde Boker, Cohen became Ben-Gurion's unofficial bodyguard and confidant, and the two grew very close. According to a New York Times article from 1964, Cohen became Ben-Gurion's "closest companion." Cohen also served as the head of security at Sde Boker.
Death and revelation of role
Cohen's involvement in the assassination of Bernadotte was long-rumored, but was not confirmed during his lifetime. Historian Michael Bar-ZoharMichael Bar-Zohar
Dr Michael Bar-Zohar is an Israeli historian, novelist and politician. His World War II-era nonfiction and fiction works have been published in English, French, Hebrew, and other languages. He was also a member of the Knesset on behalf of the Alignment and Labor Party during the 1980s and early...
claimed for a number of years that Cohen had confessed in his role in the attack to Ben-Gurion, but Cohen never responded to these claims publicly.
Cohen died at Sde Boker of a heart attack in 1986, with his role in the attack still unclear, but in 1988 two of his co-conspirators in the attack: Yehoshua Zeitler and Meshulam Markover, publicly confessed to their role in the attacks and confirmed that Cohen killed Bernadotte.