A street in Jerusalem will be named after Meir Tobianski, an Israeli Defense Forces officer who was falsely arrested and executed for treason in 1948, the Jerusalem Municipality announced Monday.
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Born in Lithuania, Tobianski immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1925 at the age of 21. Initially, he worked in physical labor but enlisted in a training program to be a policeman for the British authorities in 1926. He also joined the Haganah, the leading paramilitary group seeking Jewish independence.
During World War II, Tobianski enlisted in the British Army and served in the Royal Engineers, and reacher the rank of major. After the war, he worked as an engineer at the British-owned Jerusalem Electric Corporation. He became an IDF officer during the 1948 War of Independence.
Tobianski was accused of treason by Isser Beeri, head of the IDF's newly-established Military Intelligence. At the time, Jordan had succeeded in conducting several precision attacks in the Israeli-held part of Jerusalem. Also, a British officer was found to have a list of sites connected to electricity production. Beeri decided that someone inside the Jerusalem District Electricity Company was leaking information to the Jordanians about the location of the strategic sites.
Tobianski was arrested on June 30, 1948 in Tel Aviv and was executed by firing squad the same day following a drumhead court-martial. He was 44 years old.
With no details on the case and the decision to execute him, Tobianski's widow, Lena, ultimately turned to then-Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion to find out the circumstances surrounding his death.
Ben-Gurion agreed and ordered then-IDF Chief of Staff Yaakov Dori to investigate the matter. Six months after the execution, Tobianski's conviction was vacated, granting him posthumous exoneration. Ben-Gurion sent a letter to Tobianki's widow informing her of the wrongful conviction and the decision to reinter Tobianski's body at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, where Israel's fallen soldiers are usually buried.
"This is a story of terrible personal injustice," said Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem Yossi Havilio, who led the efforts to honor Tobianski. "Tobiansky was a symbol of Zionism, professionalism, and personal sacrifice, and he contributed greatly to Jerusalem's security. His wife Lena was a symbol of the stubborn pursuit of justice and truth."
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