Geulah Cohen

Geulah Cohen (Hebrew: גאולה כהן; 25 December 1925 – 18 December 2019) was an Israeli politician and activist who founded the Tehiya party. She won the Israel Prize in 2003. Between 1974 and 1992, she served as a member of Knesset, initially for Likud. She changed her political affiliation to Tehiya in 1979. In 1992, she lost her seat in the Knesset.

Geulah Cohen
Faction represented in the Knesset
1974–1979Likud
1979–1992Tehiya
Personal details
Born(1925-12-25)25 December 1925
Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine
Died18 December 2019(2019-12-18) (aged 93)

Life and career

Geulah Cohen was born in Tel Aviv to a Mizrahi Jewish family of Yemenite, Moroccan and Turkish origin during the Mandate era.[1] She was the daughter of Miriam and Yosef Cohen.[2] She studied at the Levinsky Teachers Seminary, and earned a master's degree in Jewish Studies, Philosophy, Literature and Bible at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.[3]

Cohen as a radio broadcaster for the Lehi underground station in 1948

In 1942 she joined the Irgun, and moved to Lehi the following year.[4][5][6] A radio announcer for the group, she was arrested by the British military authorities in 1946[7] while broadcasting in Tel Aviv. She escaped in May, shortly before her trial, but was recaptured by a group of Arabs.[1] On 6 June 1946, she was sentenced to seven years imprisonment (nineteen years according to Encyclopaedia Judaica) after being charged with being in possession of a wireless transmitter, four pistols and revolvers and ammunition. During sentencing she sang "Hatikvah" and was accompanied by 30 members of her family.[8] She was imprisoned in Bethlehem, but escaped from jail in 1947.[7] She was also editor of the Lehi newspaper Youth Front. After Israeli independence in 1948, she contributed to Sulam, a monthly magazine published by former Lehi leader Israel Eldad.[1]

Cohen married former Lehi comrade Emanuel Hanegbi.[9] From 1961 to 1973, she wrote for the Israeli newspaper Maariv and served on its editorial board.[10] While working as a journalist, she came to New York to visit the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Schneerson encouraged her to get involved with Israeli youth.[11]

Cohen died on 18 December 2019, one week before her 94th birthday. She was buried at the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.[1]

Political career

In 1972, Cohen joined Menachem Begin's Herut party,[7] then part of the Gahal alliance, and was elected to the Knesset the following year, by which time Gahal had become Likud. She was re-elected in 1977.[12]

As an opponent of the Camp David Accords and the return of Sinai to Egypt as a land-for-peace deal, even to the extent of being thrown out of the Knesset when Begin presented the deal to it,[7] Cohen and Moshe Shamir left Likud in 1979 to found a new right-wing party Banai, later Tehiya-Bnai, and then Tehiya.[7] The new party was a strong supporter of Gush Emunim and included prominent members of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza such as Hanan Porat and Elyakim Haetzni.[13]

Cohen retained her seat in the 1981 elections, and despite their previous differences, Tehiya joined Begin's coalition.[14] She retained her seat during the elections in 1984 and 1988, and in June 1990, following a coalition crisis, was appointed to the cabinet as Deputy Minister of Science and Technology.[14]

Cohen lost her seat in the 1992 elections.[1] That year, she rejoined Likud and remained active in right-wing politics.[1] Her son, Tzachi Hanegbi, is a former Knesset member for the Likud.[1]

Views and opinions

Cohen opposed territorial concessions. She was a vocal critic of the Camp David Accords in 1978 and of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan from Gaza in 2005.[15] She described herself as a "woman of violence" in the pursuit of political ends.[16]

Awards and recognition
  • In 2003, Cohen was awarded the Israel Prize for her lifetime achievements and special contribution to society and the State of Israel.[17][18]
  • In 2007, she received the Yakir Yerushalayim (Worthy Citizen of Jerusalem) award from the city of Jerusalem.[19]

Published work
  • Story of a Warrior (1961; Hebrew autobiography)[20]
  • Woman of Violence: Memoirs of a Young Terrorist, 1943–1948. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. 1966. (autobiography)
  • Historical Meeting (1986) (Hebrew)[20]
  • Ein li koah lehiyot ayefa ("No Strength To Be Tired"; 2008)[20]

References
  1. "Geula Cohen, pre-state underground fighter, veteran right-wing MK, dies at 93". The Times of Israel. 19 December 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  2. Cohen, Geulah (1990). "The voice of valor".
  3. Atkins, S.E. (2004). Encyclopedia of Modern Worldwide Extremists and Extremist Groups. Greenwood Press. p. 66. ISBN 978-0-313-32485-7. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  4. BenDov, H. Nobody Wants To Die. PublishAmerica. ISBN 978-1-4560-8194-2. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  5. Heller, J. (1995). The Stern Gang: Ideology, Politics, and Terror, 1940–1949. F. Cass. p. 265. ISBN 978-0-7146-4558-2. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  6. Archived 4 May 2018 at the Wayback Machine
  7. washingtonpost.com: "Fighter in the Promised Land, Geula Cohen and the New Zionism", 11 October 1978
  8. "Girl Zionist Sentenced," page 11, The New York Times, 7 June 1946.
  9. Bowker-Saur (1991). Who's Who of Women in World Politics. Bowker-Saur. ISBN 978-0-86291-627-5. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  10. Viorst, M. (1987). Sands of Sorrow: Israel's Journey from Independence. Tauris. p. 216. ISBN 978-1-85043-064-3. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  11. "If I Forget Thee, Oh Jerusalem… - Program Three Hundred Twenty Seven – Living Torah – Geulah Cohen". chabad.org. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  12. Gorenberg, G. (2007). The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967–1977. Henry Holt and Company. p. 281. ISBN 978-0-8050-8241-8. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  13. Tessler, M.A. (1994). A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Indiana University Press. p. 646. ISBN 978-0-253-20873-6. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  14. Lochery, N. (1997). The Israeli Labour Party: In the Shadow of the Likud. Ithaca Press. p. 184. ISBN 978-0-86372-217-2. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  15. "ארכיון המדינה". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
  16. Cohen 1966
  17. "Israel Prize Official Site (in Hebrew) – Recipient's C.V."
  18. "Israel Prize Official Site (in Hebrew) – Judges' Rationale for Grant to Recipient".
  19. "Recipients of Yakir Yerushalayim award (in Hebrew)". Archived from the original on 17 June 2011. City of Jerusalem official website
  20. "Geulah Cohen". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
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