Love us or hate us ? (part 9)

Submitted by saltysteve on Thu, 05/21/2009 - 17:12

6. Orde Wingate

Here was a truly great friend of the Jews, a practical one too - he taught us how to fight!

A devout Christian, Captain Charles Orde Wingate of the British Army was an ardent Christian Zionist and during the 1936-1939 Arab riots in Palestine undertook to train special Jewish Commando Units, who worked under cover of darkness under the name of the night squads.

Many of Israel's future military leaders had their initial military experience under this man. Moshe Dayan had this to say about him, "There were times when he would march on, driven by an iron will. He had an unshakeable belief in the Bible. Before going into action, he would read the passage in the Bible relating to the places where we would be operating and find testimony to our victory - the victory of God and the Jews".

He was well loved by the Jews in the land, who named him Ha-Yedid, 'the friend'. Unfortunately the British high command weren't too pleased with the activities of this maverick and he was withdrawn from Palestine in 1939 with the following endorsement in his passport, "the bearer ... should not be allowed to enter Palestine."

His dream was always to lead the army of the future Jewish state, though, sadly, he was to die in a plane crash in Burma in 1944. He loved the Jews right up to the end, a year before his death he wrote this in a letter to a friend, "If I forget thee O Jerusalem ....".

This brave man is now commemorated in Israel by a children's village, a College of Physical Education, a forest and a Square in Jerusalem.

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