Yosef Lishansky Yosef Lishansky ( ; 1890 – 16 December 1917 ) was a Jewish paramilitary and a spy for the British in Ottoman Palestine . Upon his arrival in Palestine , Lishansky sought to join HaShomer but , denied membership , he founded a rival organization , HaMagen . Several years later , he joined the Jewish espionage organization , Nili . Lishansky was wanted by the Ottomans for his activities and was betrayed by HaShomer when he sought refuge with them . He escaped capture several times , but was eventually caught and sentenced to death in Damascus . Early life . Lishansky was born near Kiev in the Russian Empire in 1890 , to Eidel and Ya ' akov Toviah . After most of his family was killed in a fire , he made Aliyah with his father ( the year of Aliyah varies between 1891 and 1896 ) . They settled with Yosef ' s brother , Israel , who was living in Metula . His father soon disappeared during a trip to Jerusalem , and Lishansky began living at his brother ' s home . Excelling in his studies , he was sent to a seminar in Jerusalem , but did not complete his educational studies due to financial difficulties . Instead , Yosef travelled to Egypt , where he managed an agricultural farm for two years and then returned to the Land of Israel . In 1910 , he married Rivka Broshkovsky , and they had a daughter , Ivriya , and a son , Toviah . Jewish defense organizations . In 1912 , Lishansky attempted to join the HaShomer organization . HaShomer required a trial period for all recruits , and Lishansky was sent to guard in Poria , Rishon LeZion , Ben Shemen and finally Menahemia . In February 1915 , Lishansky ' s force killed the leader of an Arab gang that attacked the village . Because of HaShomer ' s policy of avoiding blood feud s with the Arabs , Lishansky was declined entry to the organization . This was later perceived simply as an excuse not to accept Lishansky , who was proficient in the use of weapons , horseback riding and Arabic . Israel Shochat , a leader of HaShomer , later wrote that Lishansky often demonstrated weakness , adventurism and boastfulness . Lishansky then decided to form a rival organization , named HaMagen ( " The Shield " ) , which included rejected HaShomer members . The group did not wish to directly compete with HaShomer , so they selected the southern Jewish villages , which were previously guarded by Arabs . Lishansky was chosen as the leader of the organization , and travelled to the south to negotiate with the villages . HaMagen replaced the Arab guards in Ruhama , Be ' er Tuvia and Mazkeret Batya , and later Gedera . Despite a clause in HaMagen ' s charter preventing it from guarding villages formerly or presently guarded by HaShomer , the latter attempted and failed to disband HaMagen . In January 1917 , unknown by his HaMagen co - members , Lishansky left Egypt to focus on his activities in Nili . Ill will was created and led to the decline of HaMagen . Despite this , some HaMagen members joined Lishansky in Nili . Nili activities and death . Lishansky joined Nili in December 1915 , when Avshalom Feinberg was arrested for espionage and held in Beersheba . Because he was active in the south , he was recruited by Feinberg to pass information to and from Sarah Aaronsohn , who was operating from Atlit . He did this by hiding notes in the loaves of bread passed to the prisoners . In January 1917 , after Feinberg was released and sought to secretly travel to Egypt to meet with the British , he was accompanied by Lishansky , who had intimate knowledge of the area . On January 20 , they were attacked by two Ottoman soldiers and a gang of Bedouin near Rafah , which left Feinberg dead and Lishansky wounded . Lishansky was left to die but managed to reach a British patrol that took him to a hospital in Port Said , where he met Aaron Aaronsohn on January 25 , 1917 , and told him about Feinberg ' s death . Because Lishansky was the only witness to the killing , rumors started circulating that he was the one who killed Feinberg for personal reasons , or because of a romance with Sarah Aaronsohn . They were disproved only after the Six - Day War , when Feinberg ' s remains were found and the Bedouin in the region interrogated . Lishansky subsequently returned to Atlit , Nili ' s central base of operations , and shifted his entire focus on the organization . He was responsible for collecting espionage reports from Nili agents in the vicinity , and managing the finances funnelled from Egypt . In April 1917 , Lishansky again travelled to Egypt , against the will of his superior , Aaron Aaronsohn . He returned in June and continued his activity in Nili . In October 1917 , while Lishansky was in Zikhron Ya ' akov , the Ottoman authorities received information about Nili ' s activities by accidentally catching a homing pigeon with a message from Sarah Aaronsohn , and after capturing the Nili operative Na ' aman Belkind , they found out about a cell in Zikhron . They encircled the village , capturing Sarah Aaronsohn , but Lishansky managed to escape , and became a fugitive with a price on his head . He met with HaShomer members carrying gold and accompanied them to Tel Adas . HaShomer , which was opposed to Lishansky ' s activities , nevertheless decided to hide him , although as pressure from the Turks increased , they held another meeting and this time decided to execute him and hand his body over to the authorities . He was led to a place near Metula on October 9 , shot twice , and left for dead . However , he did not die and by the time the Turkish soldiers reached the area , he had escaped . On October 17 , Lishansky found refuge in Petah Tikva with friends of Aaron Aaronsohn ' s , but they were reluctant to hide him and after two days sent him on his way . He travelled south in hopes of crossing the border in the Sinai Peninsula and reaching British lines . On the night between October 19 and 20 , Lishansky attempted to steal a camel from Bedouins in the Shephelah region . He was caught and turned over to the Ottoman authorities . The Ottomans held and interrogated him in Ramla and Jerusalem , and after ten days in Jerusalem he was moved to Damascus . During his time in prison , Lishansky contacted the Yishuv and asked for funds to bribe his way out of incarceration . Meir Dizengoff , one of the leaders of Tel Aviv , denied funding not only to bribe Lishansky ' s way to freedom , but even for the succor he provided other prisoners including anti - Zionists , despite having received the money from Nili . Lishansky disclosed members of HaShomer to the Turks , and by some accounts members of Nili as well . He was sentenced to death by hanging , along with the fellow Nili member Na ' aman Belkind ( who complained of the sentence since he withheld nothing during interrogations ) . They were hanged in a public square in Damascus on December 16 , 1917 . On October 24 , 1919 , Lishansky and Belkind ' s bodies were transferred to a cemetery in Rishon LeZion , although less than 20 people attended the funeral as part of the anti - Nili sentiment in the Yishuv at the time . In August 1979 , Lishansky ' s body was moved again in a state ceremony to Mount Herzl , near the grave of Avshalom Feinberg . Public image . Lishansky was generally seen in a negative light in the Yishuv , partly due to Nili ' s overall problematic image . Other factors included rumors about backstabbing Avshalom Feinberg , and unfavorable personality traits . His grave in Rishon LeZion was vandalized several times over the years , and in 1937 , Habima Theatre ran a play portraying him in a negative light . Lishansky ' s image underwent a slow transformation to the image of a national hero , along with the transformation of Nili ' s image in general . After Feinberg ' s burial site was found near Rafah after the Six - Day War and Lishansky ' s name was cleared , more Israelis began to view him positively , and a request was sent to Prime Minister Levi Eshkol to move Lishansky ' s grave to Mount Herzl . The request was denied , although the struggle to improve his image resumed and gained strength after " The Revolution " of 1977 , when the right - wing party , Likud , was elected to form a government for the first time . A movement called " The Public Committee for the Rehabilitation of Yosef Lishansky " was founded , including notable figures like Uri Zvi Greenberg and Rehavam Ze ' evi . The movement succeeded in gaining recognition for Lishansky ' s activities in World War I , and the transfer of his remains in a state ceremony to Mount Herzl on August 8 , 1979 .