Avraham Sharoni

Avraham Sharoni was born in 1918 in Baghdad

Sharoni was born in Baghdad in 1918 to Dina and Meir Shaashua. His mother was the daughter of Rabbi Shimon Agassi, a community leader. He studied at a kuttab and at the Jewish high school Shamash, and in 1931 he helped found the Zionist youth movement Ahiever.

In 1934 he immigrated to the Land of Israel and worked in orchards in Raanana. He joined the Haganah, later taught Arabic in Ashdot Yaakov and Tiberias, and in 1938 changed his surname to Sharoni. He also studied Arabic language and literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

In 1942 he joined the Palmach Syrian unit and worked undercover in Beirut and Damascus, where he was jailed on suspicion of spying and later freed. During the War of Independence he decoded Jordanian army broadcasts and moved to the IDF listening unit. In 1963 he set up the unit's training branch and in late 1971 he left regular service.

After his release he founded a unit at Tel Aviv University teaching Arabic to public servants. From 1977 to 1980 he led the team that wrote an Arabic-Hebrew dictionary, published in 1987 in 3 volumes and in 1991 in 1 volume.

In 1950 he married Edna Golomb, who also served in the listening unit, and they had 4 children. He was promoted to colonel in 2008 and died in 2012. A fund in his name was founded in 2019.