Shaltiel, David

(1903–69)

   Haganah commander and Israel diplomat. Shaltiel was born in Germany and spent some years during his twenties in the French Foreign Legion. He then joined the Haganah in Palestine, serving as arms buyer in Europe. He was one of the founders of Shai, the Haganah intelligence service, in 1940, and later was Haganah’s chief of intelligence. In the War of Independence (1948) he was commander of the Etzioni brigade and Jewish area commander in Jerusalem. He was often in conflict with Yitzhak Rabin and Yosef Tabenkin, successive commanders of the Harel brigade which operated in the hill area around the city. He had the reputation of being remote from his men and something of a disciplinarian, and at one point some company commanders refused to obey his orders. His Etzioni brigade, with reinforcements from the Harel brigade, was responsible for turning back the northward advance of an Egyptian column at Ramat Rachel on the southern outskirts of Jerusalem. After the war Shaltiel entered the Israel diplomatic service, and was ambassador to The Netherlands from 1963–6.