Meir Tobianski

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Meir Tobianski (Hebrew: מאיר טוביאנסקי‎) (May 20, 1904 - June 30, 1948) was an officer in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the early days of Israel's War of Independence.

He is known for being executed as a traitor at the hands of Isser Be'eri, the IDF's first director of its intelligence branch. Tobianski was a known cohort of several British soldiers, and his frequent drinking bouts with them, and the fact that his wealth was far greater than his means, suggested to Be'eri that he was the spy responsible for giving away Israeli troop positions to attacking nations, most notably Jordan.

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[edit] Trial and execution

During the War of Independence, Tobianski was working for the Israel Electric Corporation and had knowledge of the exact location of several electricity and water targets in Jerusalem which were hit by the Arab forces. He was also the former commander of Camp Schneller (a military base in Jerusalem).[1]

After arriving at work in Tel Aviv on June 30, 1948, he was arrested by Isser Be'eri and interrogated by Be'eri, David Kron, Binyamin Gibli and Avraham Kidron. He admitted to passing a document to the British forces, although it was not the same document which he was accused of passing.

On the same day, contrary to the Chief Military Persecutor's order to arrest and interrogate Tobianski for 10 days,[1] Tobianski was driven to a small depopulated Arab village between Tel Aviv and Hulda, called Beit Jiz, where he was subject to a drumhead court-martial, the judges of which were none other than his original interrogators. Isser Be'eri, who was late for the trial, already prepared a firing squad consisting of six soldiers from the Harel Brigade, which was training in the area.

Tobianski was found guilty and executed in the village's school, where his body was buried. The execution led directly to the ascension of Isser Harel, the man most responsible for forming the Israeli Mossad. Tobianski had received neither a lawyer nor a right to appeal, and his case was not reviewed by a higher court.

[edit] Investigation and acquittal

Several months later, an Israeli Arab by the name of Ali Qasim, who spied for the Israeli intelligence, was found dead in a forest near Haifa. Be'eri was suspected for ordering his execution, for suspected work as a double agent. Be'eri admitted to the charges in court, and was dismissed from his lucrative post in the Israel Defense Forces as a punishment. Due to a public outcry and the efforts of Tobianski's wife, the Military Advocate General ordered Tobianski's case to be attached to this investigation, led by the Military Advocate General Aharon Hoter-Yishai, and Tobianski was found not guilty due to the inability to conduct a second trial.[2]

Among the interrogated was Dr. Avraham Gorali, the chief military persecutor at the time, who claimed that the execution was done without his knowledge. However, the chief military police officer, Danny Magen, stated that Gorali contacted him by phone one day before the execution and asked about the possibility of the Military Police Corps carrying out the punishment, which Magen refused. Gorali admitted to such a call, but the investigation report stated that this was likely an attempt to assess the possibility of carrying out a death sentence in the IDF, and did not imply knowledge of the outcome of the trial.[3]

Isser Be'eri was tried for manslaughter, but received only one day of prison time due to his extensive service to the country. Even though pardoned on the same day by the president, Chaim Weizmann, Be'eri left the trial a broken man, and enclosed himself in his home until his death in 1958. The other three interrogators and makeshift judges who tried Tobianski were not tried in court, and reached high military and civilian positions. In his book, David Kron wrote that despite the official investigation, he was convinced that Tobianski had been guilty and that Be'eri had the full authority to act the way he had.

On July 1, 1949, a year after the trial, a note was sent to Tobianski's wife, informing her of the acquittal, and the posthumous awarding of the captain rank, to Tobianski. Nathan Alterman wrote a poem commemorating Tobianski and his trial.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Inbar, Zvi (1982). "The Killing of Meir Tobianski". IDF in Its Corps: Army and Security Encyclopedia Volume 16. Revivim Publishing. 173. 
  2. ^ Inbar, Zvi (1982). "A Tragic Mistake". IDF in Its Corps: Army and Security Encyclopedia Volume 16. Revivim Publishing. 174. 
  3. ^ Inbar, Zvi (1982). "Tobianski's Trial - Military Police Commander's Testimony". IDF in Its Corps: Army and Security Encyclopedia Volume 16. Revivim Publishing. 173. 

[edit] Further reading

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