Politicsאריה בן-אליעזר

Aryeh Ben-Eliezer

Aryeh Ben-Eliezer was an Irgun member, a founder of the Herut movement and an Israeli Knesset member from 1949 until his death in 1970.

1913 to 1970Founding the Herut movementOrganizing the Altalena voyageIrgun General Headquarters membershipKnesset Deputy Speaker

Born: 16 December 1913, Vilnius
Died: 29 January 1970, Jerusalem
Occupation: politician
Party: Gahal
Founded: American League for a Free Palestine (1944)

Aryeh Ben-Eliezer was born in 1913 in Vilnius

Aryeh Ben-Eliezer was born Lipa Zabrowsky in Vilnius in 1913. His family moved to Mandatory Palestine in 1920, and he went to high school in Tel Aviv. As a youth he joined Betar and took part in defending Tel Aviv during the 1929 and 1936 riots.

From 1932 he worked as an emissary of Betar and the Irgun in Poland, Romania and the Baltic countries. In the United States he helped found the Committee for the Creation of a Hebrew Army and the Committee for the Rescue of European Jewry. He returned in 1943 and joined the first Irgun General Headquarters.

The British arrested him in April 1944 and exiled him to camps in Africa, where he represented the detainees. He escaped in 1947 and reached France, where he helped organize the voyage of the Altalena.

In 1948 he returned to Israel and was among the founders and leaders of Herut. He served in the Knesset for Herut and later Gahal, and was Deputy Speaker. He led Herut for a time in 1951 and 1952, and helped build Israel's relations with France.

A heart attack in December 1952 led him to leave the Knesset in 1953, and he returned in 1955. He died in 1970 while still a Knesset member. The settlement of Beit Aryeh is named after him.