Operation Balak was a smuggling operation, during the founding of
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
in 1948, that purchased arms in Europe to avoid various embargoes and boycotts transferring them to the
Yishuv
Yishuv ( he, ישוב, literally "settlement"), Ha-Yishuv ( he, הישוב, ''the Yishuv''), or Ha-Yishuv Ha-Ivri ( he, הישוב העברי, ''the Hebrew Yishuv''), is the body of Jewish residents in the Land of Israel (corresponding to the ...
. Of particular note was the delivery of 23
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
-made
Avia S-199 fighters, the post-war version of the German
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
Messerschmitt Bf 109.
A former
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
pilot and
gentile
Gentile () is a word that usually means "someone who is not a Jew". Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, sometimes use the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is generally used as a synonym fo ...
named
Gordon Levett, who served in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, volunteered for the Israel
Machal (the overseas volunteer unit) early in 1948 along with a few Jewish pilots (among others the future president
Ezer Weizman
Ezer Weizman (; he, עֵזֶר וַיצְמָן ''Ezer Vaytsman''; 15 June 1924 – 24 April 2005) was the seventh President of Israel, first elected in 1993 and re-elected in 1998. Before the presidency, Weizman was commander of the Israeli Ai ...
) from Britain. Brought up in poverty in Sussex, England, Levett had an affinity for the underdog. "Looking back, I have neither failed nor succeeded, the fate of most of us," Levett reflected later, "but I shall leave the world a better place than when I entered it because I helped found the State of Israel."
Initially, Levett was regarded with deep suspicion. "Not only was he not a Jew, but Mr. Levett was particularly notable because he was British," said The New York Times. "To most Israelis at that time, the recently lapsed
British mandate in Palestine had been decidedly pro-Arab, and British Government policy was seen as anti-Zionist."
"Recruited in March 1948 by emissaries in Europe of the
Haganah, the Jewish fighting force in Palestine, Mr. Levett was viewed with a healthy dose of suspicion," noted the Times. "'In my last interview I was told, 'We're quite convinced that you are a British spy, but we're going to take you to see what you're up to,'" he recalled.
In June Levett was given the task of flying
Avia S-199 fighters, supplied by
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
from the Czechoslovak Air Force airfield (code-named Etzion or Zebra by Israelis) near
Žatec
Žatec (; german: Saaz) is a town in Louny District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 19,000 inhabitants. It lies on the Ohře river. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monumen ...
(seventy-five kilometers west of
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
) to Ekron airfield (formerly
RAF Aqir
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
) close to
Rehovot now
Tel Nof Israeli Air Force Base. The airfield near Žatec had been put at disposal of the Haganah by a new Czechoslovak foreign minister
Vladimír Clementis
Vladimír "Vlado" Clementis (20 September 1902 Tisovec – 3 December 1952 Prague) was a Slovak minister, politician, lawyer, publicist, literary critic, author and a prominent member of the Czechoslovak Communist Party. He married Lída Pátkov ...
(a prominent Slovak member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia) and was under the command of
Yehuda Ben Chorin. Operation Balak lasted three months, during which time Levett managed to airlift tons of
arms,
ammunition and personnel. During the first
ferry flight of 15 aircraft, three were forced to land in Greece due to poor navigation, and were interned.
After a defector revealed the existence of the base code-named "Zebra" in USA, and the US made a representation to the UN to have the base shut down, the operation shifted to the air base close to the Yugoslav town of
Nikšić
Nikšić ( cnr, Никшић, italic=no, sr-cyrl, Никшић, italic=no; ), is the second largest city in Montenegro, with a total population of 56,970 located in the west of the country, in the centre of the spacious Nikšić field at the foot ...
.
[Luttrell, Robert J., I flew for Israel, ''Flying Magazine'', May 1949, p.60]
The name is a reference to the
Balak, king of the
Moabites, son of
Zippor, whose name is mentioned in
Numbers
A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...
22:2. By extension, the name came to mean 'Destroyer.'
See also
*
Arms shipments from Czechoslovakia to Israel 1947–49
References
*Rothkirchen, Livia (2006). ''The Jews of Bohemia and Moravia: Facing the Holocaust''. University of Nebraska Press.
*Cohen, Eliezer (Cheetah), ''The sky is not the limit'', Ma'riv Books, 1990
*Levett, Gordon (1994). ''Flying under two flags : an ex-RAF pilot in Israel’s War of Independence.'' London: Frank Cass.
*Livingston, Harold (1994). "Destination: Israel - how a handful of rag-tag flyers helped to save a newborn nation." Gates & Bridges.
{{Israeli operations in the 1948 war
Balak
Balak
Arms trafficking