Middle East News
Harel, commander of Jewish refugee ship Exodus, dead at 90
Apr 26, 2008, 21:14 GMT
Tel Aviv - Yossi Harel, who led a shipload of Jewish refugees trying to reach Israel after World War II, died Saturday at his home in Tel Aviv.
He was 90. Harel suffered a heart attack, his family told the Israeli news website Ynet.
Harel commanded the ship Exodus, which was loaded with 4,500 Holocaust survivors bound for Israel, in a mission that was illegal according to Britain, the colonial power in 1947 over Palestine, where Israel was founded a year later.
Enforcing a blockade to keep Jews from entering Palestine, a British Navy vessel stopped Exodus, and three people on board the passenger ship died resisting British forces, before the ship was forced to return to Europe.
A novel and a movie based on the incident later fictionalized the story.
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