On Both Sides of the Crypto Uri Goren On Both Sides of the Crypto Uri Goren On Both Sides of the Crypto By Uri Goren Translated by Aryeh Malkin, Kibbutz Ein Dor April 2010 משני צדי הקריפטו אורי גורן Copyright © 2008 All rights reserved to the author The material in this book is not to be copied, photographed, stored electronically or broadcast by any means, optically or electronically. No commercial use may be made of any material in the book without the express permission in writing from the author. Originally printed in Hebrew, Israel 2008 Table of Contents Foreword 7 Chapter 1: Ha’apala - the Illegal Immigration 13 Chapter 2: “Exodus” 49 Chapter 3: Procurement 61 Chapter 4: Childhood and Adolescence 73 Chapter 5: Military Service 83 Chapter 6: Service in the Intelligence 103 Chapter 7: Business 115 Chapter 8: Family 123 Chapter 9: People 137 Chapter 10: Viewpoints & Opinions 159 A Personal Note from the Editor 169 Appendices 171 Foreword I do not presume that I am writing history, but rather, from my own personal point of observation, I endeavor to describe events in which I participated. What I write is meant particularly for my own extended family and for a number of good friends. Who would have believed… My generation, “the generation of ‘48”, was something special. I think that there were few generations that had to assume burdens as weighty as those which we had to take upon ourselves. We were the second generation of those who founded small rural settlements, who were field workers and pioneers – but men with ideals and values; they knew travail and bloodshed; from World War II and the Holocaust to the fight for the right of the Jewish people to a Homeland of their own – a fight with the Arab rioters and with an antagonistic British Mandate, which prevented Jews from entering their Homeland. The British blockade had to be breached and then there was the desperate fight for Independence and the creation of the State of Israel. Since then we have 8 Uri Goren witnessed the influx of our brethren from the four corners of the world; the strengthening of our new country in the fields of politics, economics, science and security. From my personal point of view I had a privilege, which many fail to get – a singular and special life of activity. My generation, which experienced all these events, lost many of its finest young people. I, a lucky one, have seen the creation of a strong and solid State of Israel. Of course, there have been disappointments and there are many problems and pitfalls, and even at the turn of the twentieth century and the onset of the twenty-first, the fight for the security of the State still continues. After the creation of the State of Israel and the War of Independence, we hoped that we would be the last generation to know war. To our chagrin, our children and our grandchildren have had to fight also in fiercely fought conflicts. I have also had to participate in various stages of these struggles; very often I happened to be in the very thick of the fighting. I have lived to see the marvel of the creation of the State of Israel, which had its beginnings in a small settlement of 500,000 and which has now grown to be a full-fledged state of more than six million inhabitants. It has a flourishing industry and is an exciting democracy. On Both Sides of the Crypto 9 I was, and am an optimist and still believe and am content. I am lucky and perhaps I helped my luck along a bit when I had to make important decisions at crucial stages in my personal and public life. The fate of the State-to-be, which became the State of Israel, determined my path through life from childhood and youth and until my mature old age. My life has been and still is intense and exciting; there have been difficulties and obstacles to overcome, but all in all - my life has been spent in doing things and being active. As an adult, this has been true especially in the field of military security. Friends have often urged me to put my memoirs on paper, but I had refrained from so doing for two main reasons: First, my life has been similar to that of many others of my generation, who already put their memoirs onto paper. Second, since the Declaration of Independence in 1948 there have been so many great and important events happening in our short but exciting history, that my own private life is tremendously reduced in importance as compared to them. The celebration of the 60th anniversary of the “Exodus” had a strong effect upon me and accentuated my need to tell what happened from my angle of view. Considering also how the family has expanded with the addition of grandchildren and great grandchildren, and partners of members of the family; this gives an added incentive to a man my age to want to tell his story to those who did not know it at first hand. My sons, and especially my daughter-in-law Nava, added gentle but firm pressure, but 10 Uri Goren also extended the maximum of support, as always. Now that the work is complete and the results are to my satisfaction, it only remains for me to thank them for their support and encouragement. To those who despair and complain of what the State and its leaders are doing I wish to say: During those difficult and decisive years of struggle, I happened to be a part of that wonderful group that brought the survivors of the Holocaust to the Land of Israel. Imagine this conversation in 1946, more than 60 years ago. Picture the survivors and those who were active in Aliya Bet in a camp of the survivors in Southern France. Remember, there were only 500,000 Jews in Palestine at that time. They had to struggle against the attacks of the local Arabs and the Arab countries and an antagonistic British regime. I can hear myself telling them: “Today our conditions are next to impossible and we are trying to bring to Palestine thousands of hunted and harassed survivors, but in another 60 years we shall have our own strong and independent State of Israel with a population of six million. It will be a developed country with a strong economy and modern technology and science, with On Both Sides of the Crypto 11 progressive medical institutions and health care, a modern and active cultural life and a strong democracy, etc.” Had I said that in those days I probably would have made a mockery of myself. I didn’t say it and I didn’t even think of it. I was only twenty years old and I had work to do and didn’t have the time or the inclination to think thoughts of that nature. Regarding the title of the book: Crypto in Greek means hidden or placed out of sight. It is also an abbreviation for Cryptography, which deals in codes or disguised messages and their decoding. "The two sides" refer to the sender, who sends a message in code, and the receiver, who has to decode the message received. In the army and in the communication industry, the expression “on both sides of the crypto” refers to the whole method of correspondence. As a boy I was a signalman in the Hagana and after that, a “Gid’oni” during the period of Aliya Bet. Following that I was a communications officer in the army, Commander of the Communications Company of the Headquarters Staff and communications officer of the Paratrooper Brigade (established in 1955 under the command of Arik Sharon). Finally, I was in the technological unit of the Intelligence Corps. Even while working in ECI I worked in the field of communication which 12 Uri Goren was based on the hi-tech equipment that this company developed. These two sides of communication are a mirror of my life. I hope you enjoy reading, Uri Goren Nachlat Yehuda, June 2008 Chapter 1: Ha’apala - the Illegal Immigration When I was twenty I was mobilized to Aliya Bet and sent to Europe to help in sending survivors of the Holocaust to Palestine. Seven months later I was appointed commander of a vessel of survivors; it was broken down unseaworthy old vessel, which carried 1,250 men, women and children. When I look back at that period, I can only assume that my naiveté and that of those above me, coupled with the strong desire to succeed in our undertaking and to answer the needs of those we were trying to help, were the reasons that such a weighty and dangerous mission was placed upon the shoulders of such a young man. The fact that these same 1,250 ma’apilim eventually reached Palestine and merged into the daily life of the Yishuv (the Jewish settlements) is proof enough that a strong belief in the necessity of what we were doing was sufficient cause for our success. In the excitement of the action there were moments when even I doubted that we would succeed. 14 Uri Goren One has to imagine what Europe was like at that time, when the Mosad for Aliya Bet (the organization for illegal immigration) was active. It was less than a year since the end of the war; the continent had been wrecked by a war that had lasted six years.