Meir Zorea
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Meir (Zarro) Zorea (Hebrew: מאיר זורע, born Meyer Zarodinsky (Hebrew: מאיר זארודינסקי) on March 14, 1923, died June 24, 1995) was a general in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and later a Member of the Knesset. He earned distinction through his combat actions in World War II and in the Israeli War of Independence. He was a founder of Dash, an initially successful but short-lived centrist party.
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[edit] Early life
Zorea was born in Chişinău, Bessarabia (now Moldova). He was a teenager at the outbreak of World War II. In 1942, Zorea, a Jew, joined the Jewish Brigade, a temporary military element of the British military. During late winter in 1945, Zorea's Brigade took part in combat against the German army at the Senio River Valley (near Bologna, Italy). After two difficult months, the brigade emerged from the engagement battered, yet victorious. Then a second lieutenant, Zorea was awarded the British Military Cross for leading his men through intense fire. Eventually, Zorea attained the rank of captain before the brigade was dissolved in 1946.
The Jewish Brigade, largely used as a front for Haganah resistance operations, provided opportunities for arms smuggling to Jewish resistance groups in the British Mandate of Palestine, directing European Jewish Holocaust survivors in emigration to Palestine (see Beriha), and executing Nazi officials and military officers. Zorea took part in all of these activities. Regarding emigration to Palestine, Zorea remarked:
- We had a net over the whole of Europe, which was then about five million people of all nations and denominations who were moving from place to place, and we directed our streams toward Palestine.
To facilitate execution of Nazis, Jewish Brigade members would traverse post-war Europe in bands of three and four. Zorea explained:
- We only eliminated those directly involved in the slaughter of Jews. At first we put a bullet through their heads. Then we strangled them. With our bare hands. We never said anything before we killed them. Not why or who we were. We just killed them like you kill a bug.
[edit] Participation in the Israeli military
Dozens of former Jewish Brigade members were called upon to lead the Israel Defense Forces in anticipation of the impending War of Independence. At the time, former brigade members were among the few Israelis with military background. During the 1948 war, Zorea served as a battalion commander. Later, Zorea served on the general staff as the head of the training department. He also served as commander of the IDF officers school.
Zorea left the army in 1953, after the Night of the Ducks scandal that brought Israel to domestic and foreign crisis. Zorea re-enlisted in 1956. He went on to positions as deputy commander and later commander of Israel's tank corps, head of army intelligence, and commander of the Northern Command. Notably, Zorea was also involved in investigating the Bus 300 scandal, wherein some Israeli soldiers were suspected of killing two captured Arab terrorists. In 1962, Zorea retired from the IDF as a Major-General. Later on, during the 1967 Six-Day War, Zorea led his tank corps into the Sinai Peninsula to capture Sharm el Sheikh from Egyptian forces. He also later participated in the Israeli capture of Adolf Eichmann, who stood trial and was later executed.
[edit] Civilian activity
As a civilian, Zorea was a member of the Israeli Scouts Movement and a founder of kibbutz Ma'agan Michael. He also served as a police cadet.
[edit] Political activity
Zorea remained active in service of the State of Israel well after retirement from the military. From 1973 to 1974, Zorea served as Soldiers' Ombudsman. From 1976-1977, he served as Director of the Israel Lands Authority. While originally a member of the left-wing Mapam Party, Zorea joined with Professor Yigal Yadin in 1976 to form Dash, a centrist party formed by an alliance of former members of the Labor and Likud parties. One of the party's stated goals was to introduce a national constitution into Israeli Law.
Zorea was elected to the Knesset in the 1977 elections in which Dash won 15 seats (making it the third largest in the Knesset), and the party joined Menachem Begin's coalition government. While serving in the Knesset, Zorea became a member of the House Committee, the Finance Committee, and the Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee. However, the party began to disintegrate and Zorea stepped down from the Knesset in 1978. He died in 1995, at the age of 72.
