Moshe Sneh (Hebrew: משה סנה,
born Moshe Kleinbaum on 6 January 1909, died
1 March 1972) was an Israeli
politician and military figure. One of the founders of Mapam, he later joined the Israeli Communist Party (Maki), and was one of the leaders of a more pro-Israeli split
in 1965.
Biography
Sneh attended high school in Poland before studying natural sciences, mathematics and medicine
at the University of Warsaw, gaining an MD in 1935. Whilst a student, he was a
member of the Yardinia Zionist student organisation, becoming its chairman in 1926, and was also chairman of the Medical
Jewish Students Union.
He became the editor of the Nova Slova newspaper in 1931, and the political editor of HaYanet in 1933. In 1932
he had been elected to the central committee of the Zionist Federation of Poland, and was a leader of the radical Zionists. In
1935 he also became a member of the Zionist Executive Committee.
He worked as a doctor until 1939, including in the Polish Army following the outbreak of World
War II, and immigrated to Mandate
Palestine in 1940
Upon arriving in Israel, he joined the Hagana, and was head of its national staff between
1941 and 1946. In 1944 he joined the national council, and between 1945 and 1947 sat on the board of the Jewish Agency, heading its illegal immigration department. In 1946 he became head of the
Agency's political department for Europe. Sneh's name was on the British Police's list of people to arrest in Operation Agatha, but he avoided arrest by fleeing to Paris.
In 1948, Sneh joined Mapam and was appointed deputy editor of the party's newspaper,
Al Ha-Mishmar, a position he held until 1953. In 1949 he was elected to the
first Knesset. Re-elected in 1951, he was part of the group that
split from the party in 1953, intially forming the Left Faction, before joining Maki in
1954. He was returned to the Knesset on Maki's list in the 1955
elections, but narrowly missed out on retaining his seat in 1959. However, he entered the Knesset only six weeks after the
election as a replacement for Meir Vilner. Re-elected in 1961, Sneh remained in Maki when
two of the party's MKs broke away to form Rakah in 1965. He lost his seat
in the 1965 elections when Maki was reduced to one seat (most of its
vote having gone to Rakah), but returned to the Knesset again in 1969, remaining an MK until his death in March 1972.
His son, Efraim Sneh, is currently an MK for Labour.
Bibliography
- Conclusions on the National Question in Light of Marxism-Leninism (1954) (Hebrew)
External link
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
