Yosef Avni ( he, יוסף אבני; December 25, 1924 - February 3, 2021) was an

Irgun Irgun • Etzel , image = Irgun.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = Irgun emblem. The map shows both Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan, which the Irgun claimed in its entirety for a future Jewish state. The acronym "Etzel" i ...

fighter. He was born Yosef Danoch in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

British Mandate of Palestine British Mandate of Palestine or Palestine Mandate most often refers to: * Mandate for Palestine: a League of Nations mandate under which the British controlled an area which included Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan. * Mandatory P ...

, to

Yemenite Jewish Yemenite Jews or Yemeni Jews or Teimanim (from ''Yehudei Teman''; ar, اليهود اليمنيون) are those Jews who live, or once lived, in Yemen, and their descendants maintaining their customs. Between June 1949 and September 1950, the ...

immigrants. He changed his name to Avni (his underground identity) after the establishment of the State 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. Avni went to work as a locksmith at a young age, to help provide for his family (he learned his job at his cousins' workshop, the Sabah brothers). At the age of 16 he joined

Betar The Betar Movement ( he, תנועת בית"ר), also spelled Beitar (), is a Revisionist Zionist youth movement founded in 1923 in Riga, Latvia, by Vladimir (Ze'ev) Jabotinsky. Chapters sprang up across Europe, even during World War II. After t ...

, leaving four years later (in 1942) for the Irgun. After the declaration of the Revolt against the British authorities (February 1944), Avni became part of the fighting force, and on top of being in charge of an arms dump in Jerusalem took part in many operations. Avni commanded the

sapper A sapper, also called a pioneer (military), pioneer or combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefie ...

s unit during the second attack on the British intelligence offices in the Russian Compound in Jerusalem on December 27, 1945, in which the building was destroyed and seven British policemen and an Irgun fighter were killed. He also took part in the

King David Hotel bombing The British administrative headquarters for Mandatory Palestine, housed in the southern wing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, were bombed in a terrorist attack on 22 July 1946 by the militant right-wing Zionist underground organization the ...

, being one of the senior commanders of the operation, and the bombing of the British Army base at Camp Schneller, personally lighting the fuses on mines that the raiders had set. Avni was arrested in 1947 and detained by the British in Latrun Camp. He was released in March 1948, and was wounded attacking the Muchtar's house during the events of the

Deir Yassin massacre The Deir Yassin massacre took place on April 9, 1948, when around 130 fighters from the Zionist paramilitary groups Irgun and Lehi killed at least 107 Palestinian Arabs, including women and children, in Deir Yassin, a village of roughly 600 peopl ...

. During the

1948 Arab-Israeli War Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

, he took part in

Operation Kedem Operation Kedem was an action planned and carried out in July 1948, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli war. Its purpose was to capture East Jerusalem (including the Old City). After the first cease-fire of the Arab–Israeli war, which lasted for fo ...

References

Yosef Avni
Prof. Yehuda Lapidot, The Irgun Site. {{DEFAULTSORT:Avni, Yosef 1924 births 2021 deaths Irgun members Israeli people of Yemeni-Jewish descent