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The Generals' Revolt

February 26, 2023

Not to be confused with the Revolt of the Admirals in the US in 1949 or the French Algiers putsch of 1961.

The Generals' Revolt was a series of confrontations between David Ben-Gurion and generals of the newly formed Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in 1948, on the eve of the establishment of the State of Israel.

Ben Gurion (holding field glasses) in 1948. Standing behind him is Yitzhak Rabin; to his left is Yigal Allon.

The backdrop to the dispute was Ben Gurion's insistence on having commanders from his own Mapai party appointed to senior posts in the IDF. It mostly centered upon Israel Galili, the Mapam Head of National Command, who was finally unseated by Ben-Gurion in June in the midst of the 1948 Arab–Israeli war.

History

Ben-Gurion’s Army plans

Ben-Gurion had three objectives:

  1. Replacing the existing Yishuv structures of control over the Haganah and replacing them with a centralised chain of command
  2. dissolving units connected with political movements and creating a unified national army
  3. building an army based on the British Army model, breaking with the Palmach "revolutionary army" tradition

In 1946 Ben-Gurion tried to appoint loyal supporters into the upper echelons of the Haganah but was unsuccessful. The following year, there was a debate within the defence establishment about what form of armed forces the Yishuv should have in the anticipated conflict. Ben-Gurion proposed an entirely new organisation to replace the Haganah, modelled on the British Army. These new ideas shocked the Haganah leadership. The Haganah had not been active since withdrawing from direct action against the British authorities in July 1946, and the crisis threatened morale within Haganah units. Rather than damage the existing structures, Ben-Gurion allowed his ideas to be dropped.[1]

The sacking of Galili

In April 1948, while Chief of Staff, Yaakov Dori, was absent due to ill health, Ben-Gurion came to the decision to abolish the post of Head of National Command, and give himself, as Minister of Defence, direct control over the General Staff. This post was held by Yisrael Galili, one of the leaders of Mapam, the pro-Soviet rivals to Ben-Gurion's Mapai party. On 26 April Ben-Gurion notified Galili of the decision. After Galili raised objections, on 3 May, Ben-Gurion issued an official letter:

"The post of head of the national command is hereby abolished, and Israel Galili's appointment to the post is terminated. The staff of the security forces will henceforth receive its instructions exclusively from the director of security [Ben-Gurion himself] or his representative."

A majority of senior IDF officers at that time were from Mapam, and the response from several of them was to threaten to resign. Mapam's newspaper, Al HaMishmar, predicted the result would be "a personal dictatorship." On 6 May the Haganah leadership presented Ben-Gurion with an ultimatum:

"The heads of departments consider it essential to restore [Yisrael Galili] to his post until final arrangements are made. If this matter is not settled within the next 12 hours, the heads of departments will cease to consider themselves responsible for the conduct of affairs."

Ben-Gurion refused to reinstate Galili, but accepted a compromise whereby Galili was a member of the General Staff, but with unspecified duties and the threatened resignations were withdrawn.[2]

The Second Round

In June 1948, Ben-Gurion tried again. He proposed reorganising the Haganah to give the IDF a unified command built on four battle zones. An underlying motive for the changes was to purge the IDF HQ of Mapam officers. In response, on 24 June, the acting Chief of Staff,[3] Yigael Yadin and a group of staff officers put forward a plan for the restructuring, which included their suggestions as to who should be in command of each of the four Commands. Yadin was not from Mapam, but three of the four suggested appointments were.[4]

Ben-Gurion put forward counter-suggestions, with three British Army veterans to be department heads in the General Staff: including 28-year-old Mordechai Makleff as commander of the Eastern Command and Moshe Dayan as commander of Jerusalem. Yadin joined Mapam members in accusing Ben-Gurion of political interference in the army, with particular focus on Makleff who was regarded as inexperienced. A group of generals led by Yadin submitted their resignations. These included Mapam generals Cohen (Ben Hur), Zvi Ayalon and Galili.[5]

At a stormy cabinet meeting Ben-Gurion accepted the setting up of a five-man committee headed by Interior Minister Yitzhak Gruenbaum to consider the structure of the high command, on condition that Galili was dismissed. During its secret sessions the committee heard complaints of Ben-Gurion's "incessant intervention in operational decisions" as in the recent attacks on Latrun. In the media Mapam accused Ben-Gurion of attacking the Palmach. The committee proposed that there should be a multi-party war cabinet, and that there should be two director generals from different parties: one between Ben-Gurion and the Minister of Defence, and one between Ben-Gurion and the army. With eight days until the end of the first truce, Ben-Gurion announced his resignation as Prime Minister and as Minister of Defence. In the negotiations that followed the cabinet agreed to withdraw the committee's recommendations and Ben-Gurion dropped his appointment suggestions and his threat of resigning. Galili was removed from all positions of influence and Ben-Gurion remained supreme commander.[6][7][8]

References

  1. ^ Peri 1983, p. 54
  2. ^ Bar-Zohar, Michael (1978) Ben-Gurion. Translated by Peretz Kidron. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London. ISBN 0-297-77401-8. Originally published in Israel 1977. pp. 154, 155
  3. ^ acting is used, but effective is better. The actual Chief of Staff was ill. Yadin's status was not formalized until later.
  4. ^ Peri 1983, p. 298. Shimon Avidan (South), Yigal Allon (Centre), Moshe Carmel (North)
  5. ^ Peri 1983, p. 55. Not Yosef Avidar or Zadok.
  6. ^ Peri 1983, pp. 54–57.
  7. ^ Bar Zohar 1978, pp. 175–179.
  8. ^ Kimche 1950, p. 235

Bibliography

  • Bar Zohar, Michael (1978). Ben-Gurion: A Biography. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-77401-8.
  • Kimche, Jon (1950). Seven Fallen Pillars: The Middle East, 1915–1950. London: Secker and Warburg.
  • Peri, Yoram (1983). Between Battles and Ballots: Israeli Military in Politics. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-24414-5.

February 26, 2023
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Not to be confused with the Revolt of the Admirals in the US in 1949 or the French Algiers putsch of 1961 The Generals Revolt was a series of confrontations between David Ben Gurion and generals of the newly formed Israel Defense Forces IDF in 1948 on the eve of the establishment of the State of Israel Ben Gurion holding field glasses in 1948 Standing behind him is Yitzhak Rabin to his left is Yigal Allon The backdrop to the dispute was Ben Gurion s insistence on having commanders from his own Mapai party appointed to senior posts in the IDF It mostly centered upon Israel Galili the Mapam Head of National Command who was finally unseated by Ben Gurion in June in the midst of the 1948 Arab Israeli war Contents 1 History 1 1 Ben Gurion s Army plans 1 2 The sacking of Galili 1 3 The Second Round 2 References 2 1 BibliographyHistory EditThis section may be too long to read and navigate comfortably Please consider splitting content into sub articles condensing it or adding subheadings Please discuss this issue on the article s talk page January 2022 Ben Gurion s Army plans Edit Ben Gurion had three objectives Replacing the existing Yishuv structures of control over the Haganah and replacing them with a centralised chain of command dissolving units connected with political movements and creating a unified national army building an army based on the British Army model breaking with the Palmach revolutionary army traditionIn 1946 Ben Gurion tried to appoint loyal supporters into the upper echelons of the Haganah but was unsuccessful The following year there was a debate within the defence establishment about what form of armed forces the Yishuv should have in the anticipated conflict Ben Gurion proposed an entirely new organisation to replace the Haganah modelled on the British Army These new ideas shocked the Haganah leadership The Haganah had not been active since withdrawing from direct action against the British authorities in July 1946 and the crisis threatened morale within Haganah units Rather than damage the existing structures Ben Gurion allowed his ideas to be dropped 1 Yisrael Galili The sacking of Galili Edit In April 1948 while Chief of Staff Yaakov Dori was absent due to ill health Ben Gurion came to the decision to abolish the post of Head of National Command and give himself as Minister of Defence direct control over the General Staff This post was held by Yisrael Galili one of the leaders of Mapam the pro Soviet rivals to Ben Gurion s Mapai party On 26 April Ben Gurion notified Galili of the decision After Galili raised objections on 3 May Ben Gurion issued an official letter The post of head of the national command is hereby abolished and Israel Galili s appointment to the post is terminated The staff of the security forces will henceforth receive its instructions exclusively from the director of security Ben Gurion himself or his representative A majority of senior IDF officers at that time were from Mapam and the response from several of them was to threaten to resign Mapam s newspaper Al HaMishmar predicted the result would be a personal dictatorship On 6 May the Haganah leadership presented Ben Gurion with an ultimatum The heads of departments consider it essential to restore Yisrael Galili to his post until final arrangements are made If this matter is not settled within the next 12 hours the heads of departments will cease to consider themselves responsible for the conduct of affairs Ben Gurion refused to reinstate Galili but accepted a compromise whereby Galili was a member of the General Staff but with unspecified duties and the threatened resignations were withdrawn 2 Yigael Yadin The Second Round Edit In June 1948 Ben Gurion tried again He proposed reorganising the Haganah to give the IDF a unified command built on four battle zones An underlying motive for the changes was to purge the IDF HQ of Mapam officers In response on 24 June the acting Chief of Staff 3 Yigael Yadin and a group of staff officers put forward a plan for the restructuring which included their suggestions as to who should be in command of each of the four Commands Yadin was not from Mapam but three of the four suggested appointments were 4 Ben Gurion put forward counter suggestions with three British Army veterans to be department heads in the General Staff including 28 year old Mordechai Makleff as commander of the Eastern Command and Moshe Dayan as commander of Jerusalem Yadin joined Mapam members in accusing Ben Gurion of political interference in the army with particular focus on Makleff who was regarded as inexperienced A group of generals led by Yadin submitted their resignations These included Mapam generals Cohen Ben Hur Zvi Ayalon and Galili 5 At a stormy cabinet meeting Ben Gurion accepted the setting up of a five man committee headed by Interior Minister Yitzhak Gruenbaum to consider the structure of the high command on condition that Galili was dismissed During its secret sessions the committee heard complaints of Ben Gurion s incessant intervention in operational decisions as in the recent attacks on Latrun In the media Mapam accused Ben Gurion of attacking the Palmach The committee proposed that there should be a multi party war cabinet and that there should be two director generals from different parties one between Ben Gurion and the Minister of Defence and one between Ben Gurion and the army With eight days until the end of the first truce Ben Gurion announced his resignation as Prime Minister and as Minister of Defence In the negotiations that followed the cabinet agreed to withdraw the committee s recommendations and Ben Gurion dropped his appointment suggestions and his threat of resigning Galili was removed from all positions of influence and Ben Gurion remained supreme commander 6 7 8 References Edit Peri 1983 p 54 Bar Zohar Michael 1978 Ben Gurion Translated by Peretz Kidron Weidenfeld and Nicolson London ISBN 0 297 77401 8 Originally published in Israel 1977 pp 154 155 acting is used but effective is better The actual Chief of Staff was ill Yadin s status was not formalized until later Peri 1983 p 298 Shimon Avidan South Yigal Allon Centre Moshe Carmel North Peri 1983 p 55 Not Yosef Avidar or Zadok Peri 1983 pp 54 57 Bar Zohar 1978 pp 175 179 Kimche 1950 p 235 Bibliography Edit Bar Zohar Michael 1978 Ben Gurion A Biography Weidenfeld amp Nicolson ISBN 0 297 77401 8 Kimche Jon 1950 Seven Fallen Pillars The Middle East 1915 1950 London Secker and Warburg Peri Yoram 1983 Between Battles and Ballots Israeli Military in Politics Cambridge University Press ISBN 0 521 24414 5 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Generals 27 Revolt amp oldid 1107330715, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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