Operation Balak

From Free net encyclopedia

During the chaotic period of the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, Operation Balak was the smuggling of arms purchased in Europe past various embargoes and boycotts to the Zionists. Of particular note was the delivery of a number of Czech-made Bf109 fighters produced for the Nazi Luftwaffe.

A former British soldier named Gordon Levett, who served in World War II, joined the Israel Mahal (the overseas volunteer unit) early in 1948 along with a few Jewish pilots from Britain. Levett was given the task of flying Messerschmitt fighters supplied by Czecholslovakia from the Žatec military airfield (code-named Etzion Base), seventy-five kilometers west of Prague, to the Ekron aerodrome in the Negev. The Žatec base had been put at the disposal of the Haganah by new Czech foreign minister Vlado Clementis and was under the command of Yehuda Ben Chorin. Operation Balak lasted several months, during which time Levett managed to airlift tons of arms, ammunition and personnel (Rothkirchen, 2006, p. 287).

The name is a reference to the Balak, king of the Moabites, son of Zippor, whose name is mentioned in Numbers 22:2. By extension, the name came to mean 'Destroyer.'

[edit]