Shlomo Gal

Shlomo Gal was born in 1935 in Antwerp

Shlomo Gal, born Godelewicz, was born in Antwerp, Belgium, to Sara and Haim. After the Nazi invasion his family fled to Switzerland, and he went to elementary school in Zurich. His father died in 1949, and he then moved to Israel with Youth Aliyah, first to Nahalal and later to his mother in Tel Aviv, where he attended Geula high school.

He joined the IDF in 1954 and served in the Artillery Corps, taking part in reprisal raids and being wounded several times. In the Qalqilya battle on 10 October 1956 he directed artillery fire close to a surrounded paratrooper force until it was rescued. He left the army as a major.

In 1962 he joined the Mossad and served as an agent, combatant, instructor and operations chief, then deputy head and head of the Caesarea unit. He also led the Bitzur unit, which brought Jews out of Arab and Muslim countries. With his wife Dafna he worked undercover in Egypt against its arms buildup.

He took part in planning for Operation Jonathan in 1976, the killing of Ali Hassan Salameh in Beirut in 1979, and the operation against Abu Jihad. From 1989 he coordinated the secret effort to bring the remaining Jews of Yemen to Israel. He died in 1994 while still serving and was buried at Kiryat Shaul cemetery.