Exodus commander Yossi Harel, 90
Posted: Monday, April 28th, 2008 1:26 pmThe man who gained legendary status as commander of the ship Exodus, attempting to bring thousands of Jewish Holocaust refugees to the holy land after the Second World War, has died.
Yossi Harel, whose journey at the helm of a ship carrying 4,500 frail survivors from Germany to then-British Mandate Palestine was immortalised in the film Exodus, where he was portrayed by Paul Newman, died of a heart attack at the age of 90. …
Mr Harel also helped found the militia that was the forerunner of the modern Israeli army and later became a senior intelligence officer. But it was the task of rescuing Holocaust survivors and circumventing British immigration controls on Palestine which was his passion, Mr Kaniuk said. …
Mr Harel, who was born in Jerusalem, was the commander of four of the largest illegal immigration ships that would eventually bring 24,000 Jews from Europe to Palestine, before the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.
But it is the story of the Exodus which is most famous. … Read full obituary
