Lehi fighter Tova Svorai died on Sunday at the age of 97. Svorai and her late husband Moshe hid Avraham "Yair" Stern, the leader of the underground Zionist organization, in their Tel Aviv apartment for six weeks until he was captured in 1942 by British detectives. Stern was later shot to death, apparently while in custody.
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Moshe Svorai, who passed away about a year and a half ago, served as a commander in Lehi (an acronym for Lohamei Herut Yisrael, or Fighters for the Freedom of Israel).
Tova Svorai recalled in a memoir:
"At about 9:30 there was a knock at the door, too gentle a tapping to signal the presence of the police. Yair…went into the closet, and only then did I open the door. At the door stood the 'good' detective Wilkins with two men behind him. Wilkins was always very polite, too polite perhaps. He asked me why I hadn't gone to visit my husband Moshe and if I weren't worried about him. I told him that if I had gone to the hospital I would have been arrested immediately. They searched my room…then they went downstairs and brought two neighbors, women, so they might have witnesses…they went over to the closet…one of the policemen opened it.
"Yair was nowhere to be seen. The policemen thrust his left hand into the closet and began searching, and when his hand came upon Yair he pulled him out. At the same time he put his right hand into his back pocket and took out his gun. I ran between him and Yair and said "Don't shoot! If you shoot, you shoot me"…. in my innocence I thought I had saved Yair's life…how wrong I was. They made him sit on the sofa…more detectives appeared, they had handcuffs and used them to bind Yair's hands behind his back….they told me to get dressed and go downstairs…I got into a small car…suddenly I heard three shots."
Samadar, Tova's daughter, told Ynet "Mother was a woman of principles. She was lucid until the last moment. She was a colorful conversationalist and an opinionated woman. I had the privilege of being the daughter of an amazing and exceptional woman who had an optimistic viewpoint on everything."
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