Shualei Shimshon on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Samson's Foxes ( he, שועלי שמשון, ''Shu'alei Shimshon'') was an Israeli 
The fox logo of the Israeli Army's Southern Command is derived from the same story.
Samson's Foxes ( he, שועלי שמשון, ''Shu'alei Shimshon'') was an Israeli commando
Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin">40_Commando.html" ;"title="Royal Marines from 40 Commando">Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin area of Afghanistan are pictured
A commando is a combatant, or operativ ...
unit of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War
The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...
. It was part of the 54th Battalion (commanded by Zvi Zur
Tzvi Tzur ( he, צבי צור, also transliterated Zvi Tsur, 1923 – 28 December 2004) was an Israeli officer who served as the IDF's 6th Chief of Staff (1961–1963).
Biography Early life
Tzur was born in the Zaslav in the Soviet Union (no ...
) of the Givati Brigade
The 84th "Givati" Brigade ( he, חֲטִיבַת גִּבְעָתִי, , "Hill Brigade" or "Highland Brigade") is an Israel Defense Forces infantry brigade. Until 2005, the Brigade used to be stationed within the Gaza Strip and primarily perf ...
. The unit participated in various battles on the southern front, including Operation GYS
Operation GYS, or Operation Gayis ( he, מִבְצָע גַּיִ"ס), short for Golani, Yiftach, Sergei (Negev)—the three participating brigades—was an Israeli military and logistical operation conducted during the second truce of the 1948 A ...
and the Battles of the Separation Corridor.
Uri Avnery
Uri Avnery ( he, אורי אבנרי, also transliterated Uri Avneri; 10 September 1923 – 20 August 2018) was an Israeli writer, politician, and founder of the Gush Shalom peace movement. A member of the Irgun as a teenager, Avnery sat for two ...
, later to become an outspoken advocate of Israeli-Palestinian Peace and a personal friend of Yasser Arafat
Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini (4 / 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), popularly known as Yasser Arafat ( , ; ar, محمد ياسر عبد الرحمن عبد الرؤوف عرفات القدوة الحسيني, Mu ...
, was a member of this unit and wrote a song called "Samson's Foxes" which was its unofficial anthem.
The modern Givati brigade named its reconnaissance companies after the 1940s unit in 1983. The companies were consolidated into a reconnaissance battalion of the same name in 2001, once again subordinate to the Givati Brigade. Most of its work is confidential, though it is known to operate under the IDF
IDF or idf may refer to:
Defence forces
* Irish Defence Forces
* Israel Defense Forces
*Iceland Defense Force, of the US Armed Forces, 1951-2006
* Indian Defence Force, a part-time force, 1917
Organizations
* Israeli Diving Federation
* Interac ...
's Gaza territorial command.
The unit's name is derived from the Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
. In the Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...
Samson
Samson (; , '' he, Šīmšōn, label= none'', "man of the sun") was the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges (chapters 13 to 16) and one of the last leaders who "judged" Israel before the institution o ...
is described as having attached torches to the tails of three hundred fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
es, leaving the panicked beasts to run through the fields of the Philistines
The Philistines ( he, פְּלִשְׁתִּים, Pəlīštīm; Koine Greek (LXX): Φυλιστιείμ, romanized: ''Phulistieím'') were an ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan from the 12th century BC until 604 BC, when ...
, burning all in their wake.Margalith, O., 1985. Samson's foxes. Vetus Testamentum, 35(Fasc. 2), pp.224-229.
The fox logo of the Israeli Army's Southern Command is derived from the same story.