Talk:Jewish Parachutists of Mandate Palestine

MI9 and SOE

The article currently reads: "Jewish Parachutists of Mandate Palestine were a group of 250 Jewish men and women in Mandate Palestine who volunteered to join the British army's Special Operations Executive (SOE) and parachute into German-occupied Europe between 1943 and 1945."

The Parachutists were divided into two groups, each of which operated under the auspices of different British organisations, MI9 and the Inter-Services Liaison Department (ISLD), the latter being a front for SOE. Neither of these were part of the British Army, though MI9 was under military control. Although the Parachutists didn't operate under the auspices of the British Army, they were, mainly to try to ensure protection if they fell into enemy hands, enlisted (in some cases under process) into the British forces.

From Perfect heroes: the World War II parachutists and the making of Israeli collective memory (2010) by Judith Tydor Baumel-Schwartz:

Pages 9-10:
"Although the parachutists' mission was carried out under general British auspices, various British agencies, both military and civiliam alike, were involved in it at different times. These included two of the three majory British organizations involved in covert anti-Nazi activity in Europe during World War II, namely, the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), the MI9, and the aforementioned Special Operations Executive (SOE). The first of these, which was least involved in the parachutists' mission, was the SIS, which operated under the auspices of the Foreign Office and was charged with gathering intelligence information. The MI9 was the only agency that functioned under direct military auspices. However, as of July 1940 most of the covert British efforts in Europe (propaganda, secret agents, encouraging local underground movements,etc.) were concentrated in a new entity, the SOE, which included intelligence divisions that had previously belonged to other military and civiliam agencies. Although the SIS gathered intelligence material through an investigative bureau established in Haifa in 1940, it was not directly involved in the parachutists' operation. This was left to the SOE and MI9, each of which sponsored a group of Yishuv agents who would ultimately work alongside each other in Europe. The first group created was the "A Force," a military intelligence division belonging to MI9 and operating under the auspices of the Ministry of War. Colonel Tony Simmonds - a former deputy of British Military leader Orde Wingate who earned his Zionist fame by establishing the "night squads" in Palestine during the late 1930s - commanded the parachutists working under the "A Force." The second body within which the parachutists operated is referred to by Israeli historians as the Inter-Services Liaison Department (ISLD). This entity, which is never mentioned by that name in British intelligence literature, operated under the auspices of the Ministry of Economic Warfare and was essentiallly a front set up by the SOE to coordinate its work in the Middle East. Relations between the different British intelligence agencies were rarely marked by a spirit of collaboration; more often they were characterized by incessant suspicion, both on the interpersonal level and in light of the traditional rivalries between their respective ministries. Given this state of affairs, the Jewish Agency liaisons sought to take advantage of the breaches and rivalries between the British agencies in order to achieve their objective. Consequently, some of the parachutists left for Europe under the command of one agency, while others set out on their mission under the auspices of another."

Page 10:

"None of the three actually had a Zionist assignment, which was part of the agreement, according to which parachutists operating on behalf of the ISLD would work mainly for the British, whereas those under the umberlla of the "A Force" would focus on Jewish concerns."

    ←   ZScarpia   15:46, 10 October 2019 (UTC)