2RHPZ
06-26-2004, 08:54 AM
Original Mahal volunteers feted in New York
Paul Kaye was 20-year-old World War II veteran from the Bronx
when he was inducted into the Hagana. "I got a phone call at
work and this guy said, 'Would you like to help your people?'"
Kaye recalled 56 years later from his Manhattan office.
The man on the phone knew Kaye had been a Marine engineer
during the war. "'If you want to help your people,'" he said,
"'be on the southeast corner of 39th street and Lexington
Avenue at 3 o'clock this Thursday. A man in a leather jacket
will walk by carrying a newspaper.
If he tucks the newspaper under his arm, follow him. If he
throws it in the garbage, he's being followed. Disappear.'"
When Kaye showed up at the assigned street corner, he was led
into the Palestinian Students Building, where a Hagana
recruiter asked him to break US law and help sail illegal
immigrants to Palestine for an underground effort called Aliya
Bet. Today, the building is known as B'nai Zion, and it houses
the American Veterans of Israel (AVI), whose president is
Kaye.
"They said, 'If you're caught, the British will hang you,'"
said Kaye of his Hagana interview. "I said, 'Let's go.'"
Years later, he found out that his sister's mother-in-law, a
cousin of Palmah commander Yigal Allon, had recommended him
for the job.
Sunday, Kaye was reunited with dozens of foreign volunteers
who fought for Israel's independence. They were known as
Mahal, Hebrew acronym for volunteers from abroad.
In a ceremony aboard the USS Intrepid, a World War II-era
aircraft carrier turned sea, air, and space museum in
Manhattan, the Israeli Consulate in New York and the Intrepid
Foundation honored some 70 men and women for their service for
Israel.
In all, 3,500 overseas Jewish and non-Jewish volunteers from
43 nations fought in the War of Independence. Around 1,200 of
the volunteers were Americans.
"For most of us, the rise of the State of Israel remains our
most meaningful experience," said Si Spiegelman, past
president of AVI.
Another honoree, Irgun volunteer Harold Kraushar, reminisced
upon the shelling of the Altalena an Irgun-owned vessel that
David Ben-Gurion destroyed in order to consolidate his armed
forces while posing for photos with old friends from the Betar
youth group. "Ben-Gurion double-crossed us," he said before
collecting his award.
Kaye's first visit to the Middle East was aboard the
Tradewinds, a Coast Guard cutter that was covertly purchased
by the Hagana and converted into the refugee ship named
Hatikva.
It was illegal for US citizens to fight with Jewish forces in
Palestine, so Kaye's crew flew the Panamanian flag and
acquired phony food contracts for bananas.
Asked why they had opted to fight for Israel, volunteers cited
solidarity with the Jewish people and the Holocaust.
"No country, including the United States, did anything for the
Jews and 6 million of them died," said Duke Labaczewski, 75, a
non-Jewish volunteer who ran Aliya Bet ships with Kaye.
Hatikva's first run, from Italy to Israel with 1,414 displaced
persons aboard a ship meant for 300, was intercepted by the
British, and refugees and crew were interned in Cyprus.
Kaye and Labaczewski smuggled explosives into their internment
camp and sank the British prison ship Empire Lifeguard.
Kaye and Labaczewski were transferred to the Atlit prison in
Palestine.
They escaped, and Kaye made his way back to the US, where he
was routinely interrogated by the FBI while pursuing a degree
in physical education at New York University. In 1948, he
served as an officer aboard the Director en route to
Marseille, where the ship, renamed the Galila, picked up 1,500
survivors bound for Palestine. He was on board when the State
of Israel was declared on May 14, 1948.
"The people were no longer displaced persons," said Kaye.
"They were now citizens of the State of Israel."
He served out the war as a member of a naval commando unit,
Shayetet 13, and volunteered for the Israeli Consulate's PR
department during the 1967 and 1973 wars.
In 1994, Kaye, Spiegelman, and other Mahalniks began
accompanying hundreds of Jewish teenagers on an annual
educational cruise from Europe to Israel that marks the route
of the Exodus, an immigrant ship that was forced back to
Germany after it was intercepted by the British in 1947. The
cruises were canceled in late 2000, after the current conflict
with the Palestinians began.
"It's such a beautiful country and we have to love it," said
Kaye of Israel at 55.
Though he never made aliya, he visits often and still feels a
connection to the land.
"Ben-Gurion once said to me, 'Paul, if we ever get defeated,
the world will go tsk tsk and no one will do a thing for us.'"
At Sunday's ceremony, Israeli Consul-General Alon Pinkas
handed out proclamations to volunteers from the US, Canada,
France, and South Africa.
"You have been present at what I think is the greatest miracle
in the last 2,000 years," he said.
Paul Kaye was 20-year-old World War II veteran from the Bronx
when he was inducted into the Hagana. "I got a phone call at
work and this guy said, 'Would you like to help your people?'"
Kaye recalled 56 years later from his Manhattan office.
The man on the phone knew Kaye had been a Marine engineer
during the war. "'If you want to help your people,'" he said,
"'be on the southeast corner of 39th street and Lexington
Avenue at 3 o'clock this Thursday. A man in a leather jacket
will walk by carrying a newspaper.
If he tucks the newspaper under his arm, follow him. If he
throws it in the garbage, he's being followed. Disappear.'"
When Kaye showed up at the assigned street corner, he was led
into the Palestinian Students Building, where a Hagana
recruiter asked him to break US law and help sail illegal
immigrants to Palestine for an underground effort called Aliya
Bet. Today, the building is known as B'nai Zion, and it houses
the American Veterans of Israel (AVI), whose president is
Kaye.
"They said, 'If you're caught, the British will hang you,'"
said Kaye of his Hagana interview. "I said, 'Let's go.'"
Years later, he found out that his sister's mother-in-law, a
cousin of Palmah commander Yigal Allon, had recommended him
for the job.
Sunday, Kaye was reunited with dozens of foreign volunteers
who fought for Israel's independence. They were known as
Mahal, Hebrew acronym for volunteers from abroad.
In a ceremony aboard the USS Intrepid, a World War II-era
aircraft carrier turned sea, air, and space museum in
Manhattan, the Israeli Consulate in New York and the Intrepid
Foundation honored some 70 men and women for their service for
Israel.
In all, 3,500 overseas Jewish and non-Jewish volunteers from
43 nations fought in the War of Independence. Around 1,200 of
the volunteers were Americans.
"For most of us, the rise of the State of Israel remains our
most meaningful experience," said Si Spiegelman, past
president of AVI.
Another honoree, Irgun volunteer Harold Kraushar, reminisced
upon the shelling of the Altalena an Irgun-owned vessel that
David Ben-Gurion destroyed in order to consolidate his armed
forces while posing for photos with old friends from the Betar
youth group. "Ben-Gurion double-crossed us," he said before
collecting his award.
Kaye's first visit to the Middle East was aboard the
Tradewinds, a Coast Guard cutter that was covertly purchased
by the Hagana and converted into the refugee ship named
Hatikva.
It was illegal for US citizens to fight with Jewish forces in
Palestine, so Kaye's crew flew the Panamanian flag and
acquired phony food contracts for bananas.
Asked why they had opted to fight for Israel, volunteers cited
solidarity with the Jewish people and the Holocaust.
"No country, including the United States, did anything for the
Jews and 6 million of them died," said Duke Labaczewski, 75, a
non-Jewish volunteer who ran Aliya Bet ships with Kaye.
Hatikva's first run, from Italy to Israel with 1,414 displaced
persons aboard a ship meant for 300, was intercepted by the
British, and refugees and crew were interned in Cyprus.
Kaye and Labaczewski smuggled explosives into their internment
camp and sank the British prison ship Empire Lifeguard.
Kaye and Labaczewski were transferred to the Atlit prison in
Palestine.
They escaped, and Kaye made his way back to the US, where he
was routinely interrogated by the FBI while pursuing a degree
in physical education at New York University. In 1948, he
served as an officer aboard the Director en route to
Marseille, where the ship, renamed the Galila, picked up 1,500
survivors bound for Palestine. He was on board when the State
of Israel was declared on May 14, 1948.
"The people were no longer displaced persons," said Kaye.
"They were now citizens of the State of Israel."
He served out the war as a member of a naval commando unit,
Shayetet 13, and volunteered for the Israeli Consulate's PR
department during the 1967 and 1973 wars.
In 1994, Kaye, Spiegelman, and other Mahalniks began
accompanying hundreds of Jewish teenagers on an annual
educational cruise from Europe to Israel that marks the route
of the Exodus, an immigrant ship that was forced back to
Germany after it was intercepted by the British in 1947. The
cruises were canceled in late 2000, after the current conflict
with the Palestinians began.
"It's such a beautiful country and we have to love it," said
Kaye of Israel at 55.
Though he never made aliya, he visits often and still feels a
connection to the land.
"Ben-Gurion once said to me, 'Paul, if we ever get defeated,
the world will go tsk tsk and no one will do a thing for us.'"
At Sunday's ceremony, Israeli Consul-General Alon Pinkas
handed out proclamations to volunteers from the US, Canada,
France, and South Africa.
"You have been present at what I think is the greatest miracle
in the last 2,000 years," he said.