Meir Har-Zion - The Har-Zion Affair

The Har-Zion Affair

In the middle of February 1955 Har-Zion's sister, Shoshana, along with her boyfriend Oded Wagmeister, both 18, were murdered at Wadi al Ghar while on an illegal cross-border hike. Har-Zion and three members of the 890th Battalion resigned from the army. On 4 March, supplied with arms and food, Ariel Sharon drove them to the Armistice Line with Jordan. In Wadi al Ghar, 9 km from the border, they captured six bedouin from the Jahaleen and 'Azazme tribes. The prisoners were interrogated and five of them killed, four with knives and the fifth was shot. One of the dead was 16 years old. The sixth was sent back to his tribe to tell what happened. The men probably had nothing to do with the killing of Har-Zion's sister. David Ben-Gurion told the cabinet that the Israelis did not know enough Arabic to understand what their prisoners were saying.

On their return Har-Zion was held in custody for 20 days, but, despite giving a full confession to the military police, he was released without charge and soon rejoined the army. Sharett, who suspected that Dayan had advanced knowledge of the raid, noted in his diary: "The dark soul of the Bible has come alive among the sons of Nahalal and 'Ein Harod".