Nili

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Image:Stamp Sarah Aaronsohn.jpg Nili (Hebrew language: ניל"י) was the name of a Jewish espionage network which assisted the United Kingdom in its fight against the Ottoman Empire in Palestine during World War I. The name is an acronym based on a phrase from the Hebrew Bible in I Samuel 15:29 (נצח ישראל לא ישקר) which literally translated means "The Eternity of Israel does not lie".

Sarah Aaronsohn, and her brothers Aaron and Alex, together with their friend Avshalom Feinberg formed and led Nili. According to Chaim Herzog, the group was motivated to assist the British after Sarah witnessed genocidal acts perpetrated upon Armenians by the Ottoman Turks. The group attempted to establish links with Hashomer but were met with suspicion and mistrust.

In 1915, even before the group commenced operations, the Turks imprisoned Feinberg on suspicion of spying, which was not true at the time.

From March to October 1915, a plague of locusts stripped bare areas in and around Palestine of almost all vegetation and the Turkish authorities, worried about feeding their troops, turned to world-famous botanist and the region's leading agronomist Aaron Aaronsohn. He requested the release of his friend and assistant Avshalom Feinberg. The team fighting the locust invasion were given permission to move around the country. They also collected strategic information about Ottoman camps and troop deployment.

For months, the group was not taken seriously by the British intelligence and attempts by Alex Aaronsohn and Avshalom Feinberg to establish communication channels in Cairo and Port Said failed. Only after Aaron Aaronsohn arrived in London (by way of Berlin and Copenhagen) and by using his reputation, was he able to obtain cooperation from diplomat Sir Mark Sykes.

Sarah oversaw operations in Zichron Yaakov. In an attempt to get to Egypt by foot, Avshalom Feinberg was killed and Yosef Lishansky was wounded but managed to reach British lines.

From February to September 1917, the boat Monegan regularly sailed to the Palestine shore near Atlit. Lishansky swam ashore to collect Nili information and to pass money sent by American Jews to the starving yishuv. However, the presence of German submarines made the trips too risky and the group switched to carrier pigeons.

In the fall of 1917, one of these pigeons was caught by the Turks, who were able to decrypt the Nili code (based on Hebrew, Aramaic, French and English) within one week. As a result the Turks were able to unravel the spy network. The leadership of the Yishuv and the Hashomer disassociated itself from Nili's actions. One Nili member, Naaman Belkind, was captured by the Turks and reportedly revealed secrets about the group.

In October 1917, the Turks surrounded Zichron Yaakov and arrested numerous people, including Sarah, who managed to commit suicide after four days of torture. Other prisoners were incarcerated in Damascus. Lishansky and Belkind were sentenced to death. With Aaron Aaronsohn's death in an air accident on May 1919, the group ceased to exist.

The Chief of British Military intelligence at the War Office Major General George MacDonough has been quoted as saying in his lecture in 1919 at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich:

"You will no doubt remember the great campaign of Lord Allenby in Palestine and perhaps you are surprised at the daring of his actions. Someone who is looking from the side lines, lacking knowledge about the situation, is likely to think that Allenby took unwarranted risks. That is not true. For Allenby knew with certainty from his intelligence (in Palestine) of all the preparations and all the movements of his enemy. All the cards of his enemy were revealed to him, and so he could play his hand with complete confidence. Under these conditions, victory was certain before he began."

A longstanding controversy within the Jewish community of the British Mandate of Palestine and subsequently of the State of Israel about Nili's "irresponsibility" for not coordinating their operations with Zionist leadership and thereby endangering the yishuv) was officially resolved in November 1967, when Feinberg's remains were reinterred on the Mount Herzl with full military honors with eulogies delivered by the Speaker of the Knesset and chief chaplain of the IDF.

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