MONTREAL – As Israel celebrates its 62nd Independence Day, our thoughts are directed towards the unforgotten heroes of MAHAL (Mitnadvei Chutz La’aretz), the military organization of foreign volunteers. We remember all the volunteers, Jews and non-Jews, from all parts of the world, who flocked to the gates of the as yet unborn state of Israel to offer their services as part of the Israel Defence Forces.

The story is dramatic and in some ways incredible. Five thousand volunteers were organized after the United Nations General Assembly, in November 1947, recommended the partition of Palestine. In some instances the initiative was spontaneous and local. This was the case in Canada, where Jewish ex-servicemen issued a call for volunteers to fight for the newly created state of Israel. In the United States and Scandinavia, ex-servicemen contacted shlichim, representatives of the Haganah who worked under cover. In South Africa, the movement was organized after the arrival of the Jewish Agency representative, who contacted the South African Jewish Servicemen Association.

By early 1948, volunteer organizations existed in most Jewish communities in the Western world. Small numbers of volunteers with urgently needed military experience were smuggled into the yishuv before the state of Israel was proclaimed.

The majority of the volunteers were channelled through training camps in France and Italy by the Haganah’s European command (with headquarters in Paris). Most volunteers were WW II veterans and some had been officers. Their contribution was not in numbers but in the quality and experience needed in a new army whose brief fighting tradition was that of an underground movement. One of MAHAL’s crucial contributions comprised Air Force veterans, among the founders of Israel’s fledgling air force.

Approximately 150 MAHAL volunteers were killed in action, the majority from the United States and Canada. Of the estimated 5,000 volunteers, about 300 remained or returned to settle in Israel.

Leonard Salter, in his book The Pledge (1970, Simon and Schuster, NY), writes:

Reb Kolman’s (an ex-US air force pilot officer) first mission, less than 12 hours after his arrival from Italy, would be to drop a life-saving load of supplies and arms to the beleaguered inhabitants of the Etzion Bloc.

After the war, Kolman served as a captain with El Al until the late 1970s. At times Kolman was the head El Al pilot, transporting Ben Gurion and Golda Meir during their visits to the United States. Today he lives happily with his family in Amherst, NY.

Only after the 1948 Independence War did the American government learn the full extent of the underground’s operations. An armed force was created from nothing by a handful of dedicated conspirators. They supplied every item that was requested, from tanks and rifles to Hebrew typewriters.

On this solemn day, Yom Ha’atzmaut, I call upon everyone to remember the MAHAL volunteers’ unique contribution to our beloved and invincible state of Israel.

Baruch Cohen is Research Chairman of the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research.