Yosef Tabenkin, commander of the Palmach-Harel Brigade which broke the siege of Jerusalem during the War of Independence, died at his kibbutz, Ein Harod-Meuhad, on Rosh Hashanah. He was 66. Tabenkin was buried at the kibbutz Sunday.
Known as “Yosefle,” Tabenkin was the son of Yitzhak Tabenkin, a contemporary of David Ben-Gurion and founder and long-time leader of the Kibbutz HaMeuhad Federation and of the Ahdut HaAvoda Party.
Yosef Tabenkin was also in the central committee of Shlemut HaAretz, which believed in the concept of a “whole Israel.” After his army career, Tabenkin studied engineering at the Haifa Technion and in recent years had headed various kibbutz industrial firms.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.