Mina Ben-Zvi
Mina Ben-Zvi | |
|---|---|
 Mina Ben-Zvi (1948) | |
| Native name | מינה בן-צבי |
| Birth name | Mina Rogozik |
| Born | 1909 |
| Died | 2000 (aged 90–91) |
| Branch | Israel Defense Forces |
| Service years | 1933–1958 |
| Rank | Tat aluf (Brigadier General) |
| Commands | Women's Corps of the Israel Defense Forces |
| Conflicts | 1947–1949 Palestine war |
| Other work | Diplomat, women's rights activist |
Mina Ben-Zvi (Hebrew: מינה בן-צבי; 1909-2000) was the first commanding officer of the Israeli Defense Forces’ Women's Corps.[1]
Biography
Mina Ben-Zvi was born as Mina Rogozik in 1909 in Ukraine (Velyki Mezhyrichi, Rivne Oblast). In 1921 she moved with her family to Mandatory Palestine.[2] After completing her education, in 1933, at the age of 24, she joined the Haifa branch of the Haganah.[3]
During the World War II, she was among the first 66 women in Mandate Palestine to join the women's corps of the British Army.[2] She subsequently became as a commander of a British unit in Egypt with a rank of captain.[4] When the 1948 war started she was appointed as the first commander in chief of the women's corps of Israeli Defense Forces.[1] In 1953, she joined her husband Eliyahu Ben-Zvi on a diplomatic mission to Finland from 1953 to 1955.[2] Later she was appointed as Israel's representative to the UN Commission on the Status of Women (1956–1958).[5]
In 1960 Golda Meir established Mount Carmel International Training Center in collaboration with Ben-Zvi, and Inga Thorsson, a Swedish diplomat, who later became Sweden's Ambassador to Israel.[6] Ben-Zvi became the founding director of Mount Carmel International Training Center, and served as its director for a period of 25 years.
According to Heller, she worked "for advancing women's rights worldwide."[2] She died in 2000.
References
- ^ a b Olsen, Kirstin (1994). Chronology of Women's History. Santa Barbara: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 266. ISBN 978-0-313-28803-6. Archived from the original on 2021-09-13. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- ^ a b c d Heller, Daniel Kupfert (2020). "Israeli Aid and the "African Woman": The Gendered Politics of International Development, 1958–73". Jewish Social Studies. 25 (2): 49–78. doi:10.2979/jewisocistud.25.2.02. S2CID 213091736. Archived from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
- ^ De Pauw, Linda Grant (11 July 2014). Battle Cries and Lullabies: Women in War from Prehistory to the Present. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. p. 283. ISBN 978-0-806-17074-9. Archived from the original on 13 April 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- ^ Levin, Nora (1990). The Jews in the Soviet Union Since 1917: Paradox of Survival, Volume 1. New York: NYU Press. p. 372. ISBN 978-0-814-75051-3. Archived from the original on 2022-04-13. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- ^ L. Kinnear, Karen (2011). Women in Developing Countries: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. p. 114. ISBN 978-1-598-84425-2. Archived from the original on 2022-04-13. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- ^ Ben-Yaacov, Yissakhar (2012). A Lasting Reward: Memoirs of an Israeli Diplomat. Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing House Ltd. p. 122. ISBN 978-9-652-29539-2. Archived from the original on 2022-04-13. Retrieved 11 April 2022.