Shaul Avigur

Shaul Avigur (Hebrew: שאול אביגור; 11 September 1899 – 29 August 1978) was a founder of the Israeli Intelligence Community.

Shaul Avigur
Born	Saul Meyeroff (1899-09-11)11 September 1899 Dvinsk, Latvia
Died	29 August 1978(1978-08-29) (aged 78)
Nationality	Israel
Occupation	Intelligence officer
Known for	Founding member of the Israeli Intelligence Community
Awards	Israel Prize
Head of Nativ
In office 1953–1970

Biography

Avigur was born in Dvinsk (now Daugavpils in Latvia) under the name Saul Meyeroff (later Meirov; Hebrew: מאירוב), but when his son Gur Meyeroff was killed in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, he changed it to Avigur, meaning "Father of Gur". Along with Reuven Shiloah, Avigur was instrumental in forming SHAI, the intelligence wing of the Haganah, in 1934. Since 1939 he was involved in the Mossad Le'aliyah Bet operations to smuggle Jews into the British Mandate of Palestine and was named its commander. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, he acted as David Ben-Gurion's deputy defense minister. In 1953 he was appointed the founding head of the "Liaison Bureau" (Lishkat Hakesher), also known as "Nativ", an Israeli organization that maintained contact with Jews in the Soviet Union during the Cold War. He headed the organization until 1970. Avigur was the brother-in-law of former Prime Minister Moshe Sharett.

Awards

In 1973, Avigur was awarded the Israel Prize, for his special contribution to society and the State.

See also

• List of Israel Prize recipients
• Nehemiah Levanon (1915–2003), Nativ operative in the USSR

References

• Raviv, Dan; Melman, Yossi (1990). Every Spy a Prince: The Complete History of Israel's Intelligence Community. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0-395-47102-8.
• Boaz, Arieh (2001). Unseen Yet Always Present: The Life Story of Shaul Avigur (in Hebrew). Tel-Aviv: Ministry of Defence. ISBN 965-05-1133-4.