Palmach In 1941, during his practical training at kibbutz
Ramat Yohanan, Rabin joined the newly formed
Palmach section of the
Haganah, under the influence of
Yigal Allon. Rabin could not yet operate a machine gun, drive a car, or ride a motorcycle, but
Moshe Dayan accepted the new recruit. The first operation he participated in was assisting Allied forces in the
Syria–Lebanon campaign against
Vichy French forces during
World War II (the same operation in which Dayan lost his eye) in June–July 1941. Allon continued to train the young Palmach forces. As a Palmachnik, Rabin and his men had to lie low to avoid arousing inquiry from the British administration. They spent most of their time farming, training secretly part-time. They wore no uniforms and received no public recognition during this time. In 1943, Rabin took command of a platoon at
Kfar Giladi. He trained his men in modern tactics and how to conduct lightning attacks. After the end of the war the relationship between the Palmach and the British authorities became strained, especially with respect to the treatment of Jewish immigration. In October 1945 Rabin planned a Palmach raid on the
Atlit detainee camp in which 208
Jewish illegal immigrants who had been interned there were freed. In the
Black Shabbat, a massive British operation against the leaders of the Jewish Establishment in the British Mandate of Palestine and the Palmach, Rabin was arrested and detained for five months. After his release he became the commander of the second Palmach battalion and rose to the position of Chief Operations Officer of the Palmach in October 1947.
IDF service , During the
1948 Arab–Israeli War, Rabin directed Israeli operations in Jerusalem and fought the Egyptian army in the
Negev. During the beginning of the war he was the commander of the
Harel Brigade, which fought on the road to Jerusalem from the
coastal plain, including the Israeli "
Burma Road", as well as many battles in Jerusalem, such as securing the southern side of the city by recapturing
kibbutz Ramat Rachel. '' on fire after being shelled near Tel Aviv During the
first truce Rabin commanded IDF forces on the beach of Tel Aviv confronting the
Irgun during the tragic
Altalena Affair. The Altalena ship carried volunteers from abroad coming to fight in War of Independence and large amounts of weapons and ammunition for the war. It was organized by
Hillel Kook of the
Irgun. The day after much of the contents were offloaded at
Kfar Vitkin the ship was attacked at Ben Gurion's orders off the Tel Aviv shore, set on fire, later towed out to sea and sunk. Large number of volunteers were killed on board and after jumping in the sea. Rabin called the gun on shore "The Holy Gun". "Despite the tension and bloodshed, Begin went on the radio calling on members of the Irgun not to fight the IDF:
Do not raise a hand against a brother, not even today. It is forbidden for a Hebrew weapon to be used against Hebrew fighters." This probably prevented the likelihood of civil war. Hillel Kook was arrested. In the following period he was the deputy commander of
Operation Danny, the largest scale operation to that point, which involved four IDF brigades. The cities of
Ramle and
Lydda were captured, as well as the major airport in Lydda, as part of the operation. Following the capture of the two towns
there was an expulsion of their Arab population. Rabin signed the expulsion order, which included the following: ... 1. The inhabitants of Lydda must be expelled quickly without attention to age. ... 2. Implement immediately. talks. Left to right: Commanders
Yehoshafat Harkabi, Aryeh Simon,
Yigael Yadin, and Yitzhak Rabin (1949) in Tel Aviv, 22 June 1967 Later, Rabin was chief of operations for the Southern Front and participated in the major battles ending the fighting there, including
Operation Yoav and
Operation Horev. In the beginning of 1949 he was a member of the Israeli delegation to the armistice talks with Egypt that were held on the island of
Rhodes. The result of the negotiations were the
1949 Armistice Agreements, which ended the official hostilities of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Following the
demobilization at the end of the war he was the most senior (former) member of the
Palmach that remained in the IDF. Like many Palmach leaders, Rabin was politically aligned with the left wing pro-
Soviet Ahdut HaAvoda party and later
Mapam. These officers were distrusted by Prime Minister
David Ben-Gurion and several resigned from the army in 1953 after
a series of confrontations. Those members of Mapam who remained, such as Rabin,
Haim Bar-Lev and
David Elazar, had to endure several years in staff or training posts before resuming their careers. Rabin headed Israel's
Northern Command from 1956 to 1959. In 1964 he was appointed
chief of staff of the
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) by
Levi Eshkol, who had replaced
David Ben-Gurion as
Prime Minister and
Minister of Defence. Since Eshkol did not have much military experience and trusted Rabin's judgement, he had a very free hand. According to the memoirs of Eshkol's
military secretary, Eshkol followed Rabin "with closed eyes". Under his command, the IDF achieved victory over
Egypt, Syria and
Jordan in the
Six-Day War in 1967. After the
Old City of
Jerusalem was captured by the IDF, Rabin was among the first to visit the Old City, and delivered a famous speech on
Mount Scopus, at the
Hebrew University. In the days leading up to the war, it was reported that Rabin suffered a
nervous breakdown and was unable to function. After this short hiatus, he resumed full command over the IDF. ==Ambassador to the United States (1968–1973)==