HaShomer, Haganah and Palmach - forerunners of the IDF

“With one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon.” 

(Haganah motto, taken from Nehemiah 4.)

In 1907 the “Bar Giora” group had been established because of frequent Arab attacks and raids on the isolated Jewish settlements. Two years later this became the "Guild of Watchmen."  (Hashomer).

During the murderous Arab riots of 1920, the Jewish leadership (Yishuv), understood that the British would neither help, nor protect them. Their own defense organization - “the Haganah” was therefore established in 1921. This paramilitary organization replaced the Hashomer, which wasn’t publicly controlled. During its first nine years, the Haganah consisted of three main chapters – one in Jerusalem, Haifa and Tel Aviv. Their national stock of weapons, all of uncertain vintage, consisted of 750 rifles, 750 hand grenades, about 1,000 pistols and 27 machine guns.

Away from prying British eyes, military training took place on the kibbutzim, where light arms (smuggled from Europe) were hidden in caches. It was also here that an extensive (literally) underground arms production began. The 1929 Arab riots forced the Haganah to grow into a large organization with tens of thousands of members.

Inductions went according to a special ceremony. Eligible youngsters, both male and female, were taken to a candle-lit school cellar, and brought before a table with a pistol. Three Haganah commanders, their faces hidden in the shadows, then questioned the youth. When proved trustworthy, with a hand on the pistol, the youngster then was asked to read the Haganah oath.

British Charles Orde Wingate, a Christian Zionist, volunteered to train the Haganah in commando tactics, surprise attacks and mobility - skills they needed for the special Night Squads. To the chagrin of the British and Arabs, the still illegal paramilitary organization became a force to be reckoned with.

During the early days, all Haganah activities were controlled from a house on Tel Aviv’s Rothschild Boulevard.  Eliyahu Golomb, together with Moshe and Rivka Shertok, Dov Hoz and Shaul Meirov coached people engaged in security related activities and Haganah missions.

Opposing reprisals on the general Arab population, Golomb believed in active defense and retaliation. For him, the Haganah was an integral part of the Zionist Movement, and therefore he strongly opposed radical organizations like the Irgun. However, seeing the need for a striking force, he was instrumental in establishing the Palmach in 1941.

Palmach - (Hebrew Plugot Ma'hatz)  was a Jewish military organization
created with the cooperation of the British by Yitzhak Sadeh in 1941 to help defend Palestine against the possibility of invasion from Syria, which then was under the control of the Vichy French government. Palmach leaders included Yigal Allon, Moshe Dayan, Yitzhak Rabin, Haim Bar-Lev, Uzi Narkiss and Ezer Weizman. Palmach eventually had a few thousand fighters and evolved into the underground spearhead commando force of the Haganah.

Aliyah Bet, the illegal immigration from Europe, was Golomb’s answer to the British anti-Zionist, closed door policy. When he passed away in June 1945, the Yishuv leadership knew that the British anti-Zionist policy needed an additional, clear answer. It was then that the Haganah became an open, organized, unified Jewish Resistance Movement.  With the start of the War of Independence in 1947, David Ben Gurion became the leader of the Haganah. Threatened by the massive Arab 1948 onslaught, the Haganah ranks began to swell even more by the influx of new immigrants and “Machalniks”. 

On May 28, 1948, the Provisional Government of Israel disbanded the “Defense” and renamed it the “Zva Haganah Le-Yisrael” – Zahal, or IDF.

When the Haganah became the IDF, Ben Gurion said, 

“The Army has inherited from the Haganah the heroism, the faith, the dedication and much of the capacity to act and the military efficiency. Without the Haganah heritage, its pioneering values, its experience in Eretz Israel, its devoted commanders, we would not have reached this stage”.