Mahal (Hebrew: מח"ל, also Machal) is a Hebrew acronym which means "volunteers from outside Israel" (מתנדבי חוץ לארץ, Mitnadvei Hutz LaAretz). It is used to describe both Jewish and non-Jewish volunteers for the Israeli armed forces who retain the citizenship of their nation of origin. Small numbers of volunteers from all over the world have served in nearly every one of Israel's wars; however, the term "Mahal" often refers primarily to the thousands who volunteered to fight for underground Jewish forces in the British Mandate of Palestine before 1948 and for the newly formed Israel Defense Forces following the Israeli declaration of independence in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
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Origins, numbers, and Aliyah Bet
The Mahal were mostly World War II veterans from American and British armed forces. Allied armies were reduced considerably after the end of the war and many soldiers were demobilised; moreover, the service experience became mundane and did not suit some servicemen, particularly pilots. In various circumstances they were invited, or heard of the Jewish state's struggle for independence and volunteered. There were Jews and Christians, ideological supporters of Zionism and mercenaries. The Ha'apala movement, also called "Aliyah Bet", which attempted to evade the 1939–1948 British Naval blockade restricting Jewish immigration to Palestine, was assisted by 236 Mahal former servicemen of the Allied Navies as crews of ten clandestine Jewish refugee ships, out of sixty-six participating vessels. The 1948 Arab-Israeli War saw approximately 3,000 foreign volunteers from forty-three countries among the Jewish forces, out of an estimated 29,677–108,300 total (its size grew considerably in later stages of the war owing to immigration into Palestine). A total of 119 Mahal were killed in battle.
One of the most senior Mahal personnel was Mickey Marcus, a Jewish United States Army colonel who assisted Israeli forces during the war and became Israel's first Brigadier General. Marcus's wartime experience was vital in breaking the 1948 Siege of Jerusalem.
Israeli Air Force
The largest presence of Mahal in the 1947–1949 War of Independence was felt in the Israeli Air Force (IAF), making up nearly a quarter of its personnel, to the point that English overtook Hebrew as the most common operational IAF service language.
A few hours before the final cease-fire on January 7 1949, a flight of four British RAF Spitfires bypassed the southern Israeli border on a reconnaissance flight. They were attacked by a pair of Israeli Air Force Spitfires, resulting in three of the British planes shot down. The Israeli Spitfires were flown by Mahal volunteers "Slick" Goodlin (USA) and John McElroy (Canada). Both were former USAF and RAF pilots, veterans of World War II. Covert and overt cargo flights flown by Mahal air crews transported weapons and supplies to Palestine from Europe, and thousands of Jewish refugees from Arab countries. During the Egyptian Army siege on the Negev region in 1948, Mahal pilots airlifted thousands of tons of supplies to communities behind enemy lines, usually by night landings of large cargo planes and converted airliners on makeshift, unpaved sand runways, hand lit by oil lamps. The national Israeli airline El Al was partially founded by Mahal veterans. The integration of Mahal personnel into the Israel Defense Forces did not proceed without difficulty. Occasional tensions surfaced due to the superior pay and service conditions demanded by and given to the volunteers over native Israeli soldiers, mainly in the Air Force; some of the volunteers were adventurers and mercenaries with little commitment to Zionism or to a rigid, disciplined hierarchy. This culminated in the disbandment of the Air Transport Division, following "industrial action" by its Mahal personnel over pay conditions. The division was re-established with Israeli personnel.
After the war
After the end of the War of Independence in 1949, the majority of the Mahal returned to their home countries. Some remained to live in Israel; the village Kfar Daniel near the Israeli City of Lod was founded by Mahal veterans from North America and the U.K. In 1988, Machal was revived as Mahal2000, an Israeli Non-profit organisation which, in coordination with the Jewish Agency, provides a framework for young non-Israeli Jews to volunteer for the Israel Defense Forces. Mahal2000 has received the support of World Machal, an organisation representing the veterans of the original 1948–1949 Mahal. Since the establishement of the organisation, approximately 120 individuals volunteer every year, although in November 2007 restrictions were tightened.[1]
See also
External links
- "FOCUS on Israel: MACHAL — Overseas Volunteers" 1 May 1999
- Machal and Aliyah Bet (Clandestine immigration to Palestine) virtual museum
- Machal veterans association
- Books by and on Machal Pilots, Multimedia files
- Spitfire vs Spitfire — Air Combat between the Israeli Air Force and the RAF
- Machal2000
Additional reading
- Flying under Two Flags, by Gordon Levett. Intl Spec: 1994. ISBN 0-7146-4102-2. The story of a Machal Pilot
- I Am My Brother's Keeper, by Jeffrey Weiss and Craig Weiss. Schiffer Publishing: Atglen, Penn., 1998. ISBN 0-7643-0528-X. Interviews with Machal veterans
