Mishael Shaham

Mishael Shaham was born in 1912 in Ilaniya

Shaham was born in Sejera to Zvi and Ahuva Schechter, among the founders of the village. He was the third of 8 children and the eldest son. As a boy he helped on the family farm and worked in farming, drainage and road building.

He moved to Tel Aviv, worked in construction and studied in the evenings at the Montefiore technical school. In 1932 he joined his family in Rehovot, where he also worked as a builder.

He joined the Haganah in 1932 and helped run its underground workshops for restoring bullets and for making explosives. He later trained Haganah units and from 1945 commanded the Tel Hai district in the Upper Galilee, where he took part in founding new settlements such as Biriya and Neot Mordechai.

In the War of Independence he organized the protection of convoys to Jerusalem and planned the bombing of the Semiramis Hotel in January 1948, for which Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir reprimanded him. He then commanded the Golani Brigade and became deputy commander of the Central Front.

In 1949 he founded the Jerusalem Brigade, Brigade 16, and led it until 1953. He pushed to organize reserve service to reinforce the regular army. He later served on Israel's delegation to the UN and managed public bodies.