יומנים > יומן - מלא 19/09/1948

Sunday, September 19, 1948

[Ephraim] Ben-Artzi [returned from the US]: [We're] not taking enough advantage of the opportunities in the US to meet the needs of the army for free - and it can meet all the needs. Won't this hurt the fundraising? No, this is also [Henry] Morgenthau's opinion. The fundraising is primarily among the wealthy, given the tax exemption. There should be a collection among the masses - just as Magen David Adom, which has more members than American Zionists [the Zionist Organization of America?], is doing in America. But this project has to be organized over here, and [we would] send them a complete list of what we need in order for them to establish professional committees, each one of which would handle its own portion. Ben-Artzi assumed [the list would be compiled] in America, with the approval of Morgenthau as well as the chief of staff here. A branch [on behalf of] the army needs to be set up in America. There's a supply mission there, under Teddy [Kollek], 250 W. 57th St., where the Weizmann Institute is also located. Ben-Artzi found an American colonel, an expert in Q [quartermaster duties, logistics] and a longtime Zionist, Joe Landau, [who's] already working with Teddy. It's necessary to make a plan of what [we] need for a year, and to divide this into five priorities. Ben-Artzi left a list for half a year in America. All sorts of organizations are misusing the name of the army, because the army is the most popular thing, and ZOA [the Zionist Organization of America] and others are exploiting its name in vain. Need to establish a Base A (American) in America - to organize the activity and the collection. Professional experts from here are needed. The base will determine what each organization in America [should] do, such as Hadassah - medical supplies, ZOA - shoes etc., and no organization will be allowed to request things that haven't been designated for them.  The base will be subordinated to the trade attaché of the Israeli envoy [ambassador] in Washington, to prevent competition between collection and purchases. Without coordination we'll collect pennies and lose dinars. [We] also need a coordinator who knows the prices of the things we're buying throughout the world, the price of flour, eyeglasses, vehicles, clocks, etc. This coordination office should not be in the Logistics Department but in the Defense Ministry. It's also necessary to decide what we buy in-country and what abroad.

       Ben-Artzi has befriended [Henry] Morgenthau, who's very popular among US Jews. He's waiting for an invitation from me to come to the country and buy land and a house here and then return to America to work - then his esteem in the eyes of American Jews will increase.

       In Europe, too, it's necessary to establish an office to coordinate purchases - this requires professionals; towards this end [we] need to establish a special secretariat in the Defense Ministry. The ministry, rather than the Logistics Department, will do this work. The Logistics Department will only submit a list of its needs.

       Ben-Artzi tells me that he wants to leave the Logistics Department, and to work within his professional field. He would choose to be a military inspector (David [Shaltiel] has already been appointed) or a military attaché in Washington. Ben-Artzi works on planning and regulations in the Logistics Department. His assistants are [Ra'anan] Efron and [Shmuel] Tolchinsky, [who were] soldiers in the [Jewish] Brigade.

       - Isser [Harel]: Yosef Vilner (the man who handled finances for LEHI and was a diamond thief), [Menashe] Hadomi (among the important commanders), Haim Dviri (among the first [to engage] in thefts) were arrested; [they're] looking for the top tier: Natan Friedman [Yellin-Mor], Dr. [Israel] Scheib [Eldad], Dov Shamir [Yitzhak] Yezernitsky, Emanuel Strasburg [Hanegbi] - the rest of the leaders are in our hands. The dangerous group is Menahem Cohen, his brother Yehoshua Cohen, Nehama Srulowitz, Yehoshua Cohen's wife, Efraim Zesler [Zetler] from Kefar Saba. Isser is certain that they're the ones who carried out the assassination. Arrests were also made in Petah Tikva, Ra'anana, Rehovot, Rishon LeZion, Kefar Saba, Netanya, and elsewhere. Today they'll conduct searches in Haifa, Ramat Gan. The dangerous group - Scheib, Zetler - vanished from Jerusalem the day before the assassination.

       - The designations of the fronts and brigades:

       Northern Front - Aleph [Front]; Central ["Tichon"] Front [East] - Bet; Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Front [Center, "Merkaz"] - Gimmel; Southern Front - Dalet.

       Brigades: Golani - 1, Carmeli - 2, Alexandroni - 3, Kiriati - 4, Givati - 5, Etsiyyoni - 6, Brigade Zayin - 7, Brigade Het [Armored Brigade] - 8, Oded - 9, Harel - 10, Yiftah - 11, Negev - 12.

       - The results of the "Betzer" Operation [searching for draft dodgers]: Conscripted and sent to intake 1,004 (652 men, 352 women), subject to conscription and received a deferment 1,554 (189 m., 1,365 w.), apprehended as deserters and turned over to the military police 206 (203 m., 3 w.) - total 2,764 (1,044 m., 1,720 w.).

       - In the afternoon government meeting. We finally reached a decision to dismantle ETZEL. We rejected a proposal by [Moshe] Shapira - to maintain the status quo in Jerusalem, we rejected a proposal by [Yitzhak] Gruenbaum to enlist them in the army, so that [on the condition that] they be free to operate in the event that Jerusalem does not become part of the state, we rejected a proposal by Rosenblüth [Pinchas Rosen] that even if they accept Israel's ruling, we won't forgive past sins, particularly Deir Yassin, and we accepted my proposal to give them an ultimatum to accept, within a day or two, Israel's ruling regarding the army, conscription, and weapons and to be part of the army like any other Jew - otherwise, the army will take forceful action against them.