Yaakov Yardaur

Yaakov Yardaur
ירדאור יעקב
Personal details
Born	1912 Tighina, Bessarabia Governorate, Russian Empire (present day Moldova)
Died	3 February 1992(1992-02-03) (aged 79–80) Israel
Political party	Fighters' List Semitic Action
Spouse	Shosanna Natanzon
Children	1
Alma mater	University of Iași Paris University
Nickname	Rashdal
Military service
Allegiance	Yishuv State of Israel
Branch/service	Lehi (1944–1948)
Battles/wars	Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine 1947–48 civil war in Mandatory Palestine

Yaakov Yardaur (Hebrew: ירדאור יעקב, 1912 – February 3, 1997) was a Bessarabian-born Israeli lawyer, political figure and former member of the Revizionist Zionist group Lehi.

Early life

Yaakov Yardaur was born in 1912 as Yaakov Lederman in the city of Tighina (then in the Russian Empire, now Moldova) to Reuven and Clara Lederman. He studied law at the Iași University, where he received a degree of 'Doctor of Law' in 1940. In 1933, he married Shoshana Natanzon. He was active in the local branch of Betar, and from 1933 to 1939 he was a commisar of Betar in Tighina.

In 1938, their son Reuven was born. In 1939, he and his family moved to Bucharest. Despite the war and the upheavals in Romania, they managed to survive, and Yaakov continued to operate in the Revisionist Zionist movement. In 1944, he legally immigrated to Mandatory Palestine with his family on the Immigrant Ship 'Maritza', to Istanbul, and from there on land, through Turkey, Syria and Lebanon, to Haifa. They lived in Netanya, Ramat-Yitzhak, and finally in Tel Aviv. When he arrived, he joined the Lehi. He also worked at the national health fund.

Activity in Lehi

In 1946 he was a member of the Palestinian Jewish delegation to the World Zionist Congress in Basel. From the beginning of 1947 to June 1948, he was a member of the Lehi in Europe, covering post-doctoral studies in law at the University of Paris. During these years he was involved in the preparations for air bombing of the War Offices and Colonies in London (an operation that failed because the pilot turned over the participants). He also sent explosive envelopes to the government in London and tried to create contacts with intellectuals from the French Left and the Soviet delegation to the UN (at the UN General Assembly that met at the Chaillot Palace in Paris).

In June 1948, at the height of the first Arab-Israeli war, he returned to Israel and was forced to go underground again after the Lehi assassination of Folke Bernadotte. He came out from the underground with the rest of the Lehi members in early 1949, after a general amnesty. He was active in the establishment of the Fighters' List. When the party split, he joined its the left-wing faction, led by Nathan Yellin-Mor.

Later life

He practiced law for a living and championed for equal rights for Arab citizens of Israel. In the 1960s he founded the Semitic Action with Yellin-Mor, Uri Avnery, Boaz Evron and others, and was editor of the party's newspaper. After the Six-Day War, he retired from the political activity.

He died on 3 February 1997. He was buried at the Yarkon Cemetery.