יומנים > יומן - מלא 10/05/1948

May 10, 1948 Shkolnik [Eshkol] asks about Shapira’s friends’ cargo in Haifa. Yigael [Yadin] and Eliahu [Ben-Hur] and Yitzhak [Sadeh] are in favor of handing it over, Lehrer [Zadok] abstains, Zvi [Ayalon] have doubts. Last night, LEHI operatives abducted [Yosef] Avidar, Zvi Friedman [Zohar] (Intelligence Service), Ziga Yavetz. There were 16 people in Yosef [Avidar]’s house. According to a later report, they are being held in Petah Tikva. Yigael: The strongholds around Bet Mahsir have been captured. Our aircraft encountered difficulties but they managed at 7:00 p.m. to drop their cargo and made hits. At 2:00 our men began to operate— counterattacks were launched from Bet Mahsir and they were repelled with losses. The battle is continuing. No reports from Safed. In Qanir [east of Giv’at ‘Ada] 45 houses were destroyed. No reports from the Valley. There should have been an operation against Bet She’an. Tomorrow and the day after: operations in Ijzim [Kerem Maharal] and western Carmel. Etsiyyoni [Jerusalem commander] just reported (9:00 a.m.) that [the British] have just evacuated the Atarot field. He demands reinforcements and weapons to capture the field. Aerial bombs are needed. Lehrer [Zadok] wants a camp to be set up for Arab prisoners. Djelil [west of Herzliya] was decided upon, but the camp will be ready only two weeks from now. It is proposed to establish two companies for the Staff guard (Zvi [Ayalon], Yosef [Avidar] (in absence, [Ephraim] Ben-Artzi’s) and Lehrer [Zadok] will draw up the plan for it. Yigael wants to move up the explosives to [May] 15. Twenty-five-ton [bombs] are needed. There’s also going to be a moratorium on manufacturing flamethrowers. [Simcha] Blass found a defect of some kind. Valenchuk, Blass, and Ben-Artzi should be called in in order to step up production. They want to make all Staff workers take an oath. - Lunch with Stone [Col. David Marcus, nom de guerre Mickey/Michael Stone,] and Captain Martin (a non-Jew, an expert in military training). [General John H.] Hilldring saw Stone before he came back [from the U.S.] and told him: You have to hold the borders of the state ahead of May 15. Be ready for anything. If you’re threatened or attacked from the outside—move ahead and cross the border. Otherwise—stay within the confines of your state. - An airplane of ours with six workers aboard has gone missing in the Jerusalem hills—it may have crashed in the hills … [during the operation at Bet Mahsir]. - A delegation from the Dead Sea visited me. They demand that we send an induction officer to organize the personnel there and place them within a military framework; bring in additional personnel—at least a battalion, ten instructors—[and] more heavy machine [gun]s, heavy anti-armor gear, anti-tank mines, armor-piercing ammunition, a radio set for direct contact and communication with Tel Aviv. 18 field telephones for area communication. Fuel for electricity (they have an 18-day supply), and kerosene [?] to power a gasoline generator. - Meeting of the [Histadrut] Executive Committee about defense. I reviewed the situation—afterwards, [Yitzhak] Ben-Aharon went on the offensive—against me. In a more moderate style than in [the Mapam newspaper] Al Hamishmar, he also attacked Tabenkin and, of course, [Aharon] Zisling.