Eliyahu Lankin

Eliyahu Lankin was born in 1914 in Gomel

Lankin was born in Gomel in 1914 to Moshe and Hanna Lankin. His family moved to Manchuria, and he studied at the Russian high school in Harbin. He joined Betar in 1930 and became an officer of Betar in China.

He immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1933 and joined the Irgun. He served in the Notrim and helped land illegal Jewish immigrants on the coast. In 1944 he commanded the Irgun in Jerusalem, was handed to the British in December and exiled to a camp in Eritrea, from which he escaped in November 1945.

In 1947 he reached France and headed the Irgun command in Europe, where he organized the Altalena and commanded it to Israel. After it landed, he was held in detention with 4 other Irgun commanders. On release he joined the IDF and became a battalion commander.

He served in the first Knesset for Herut, then studied law at the Hebrew University and became a lawyer in 1954. He was ambassador to South Africa from 1981 to 1985. In 1983 he was named ambassador to the United Kingdom, but declined after British objections to his Irgun past.

He wrote an autobiography about commanding the Altalena. He died in 1994 and was buried on Har HaMenuchot, and a street in Jerusalem bears his name.