Eliyahu Golomb

Eliyahu Golomb, born in Volkovysk in 1893 and settled in Palestine from 1909, was the principal architect of the Haganah, the underground defence organisation founded in 1920 that became the Israel Defense Forces. Though he never held a formal command title, he served on its central committee and national headquarters from 1920 until his death and is generally regarded as its de facto leader. He organised the clandestine purchase and smuggling of weapons from Europe, shaped the Haganah's response to the Arab revolt of 1936–1939, and insisted that the armed force remain subordinate to elected civilian leadership — a principle the IDF inherited. He died in Tel Aviv in 1945; his home on Rothschild Boulevard, long the Haganah's headquarters, is today the Haganah Museum.