NAME: Ivazov Elisha

LEHI ALIAS: Shmuel

DATE OF BIRTH: March 1, 1923

DATE FALLEN: March 7, 1948

Elisha was born on March 1,1923 in Tiflis in the Soviet Union to Eliyahu and Shulamit (Inez). He has two brothers and three sisters. He was aged one when his parents made Aliya and settled in Jerusalem. In 1933 they moved to Tel-Aviv, bordering  Jaffa. When the 1936 riots erupted they moved to the Shapira neighbourhood. Elisha studied at a Talmud-Torah  and attended evening classes. To assist the family, he worked in agriculture. As an adolescent he was enlisted to the Communist Party, but after realizing they were negating Zionism, he left. In 1943 he married Rivka and the two had a son – Ya’acov. They separated, and the infant, who lived with his mother, did not know his father. In 1945 Elisha joined Lehi, underwent a series of training courses, and took part in operations. A prominent one among these, was blowing up the “Saraya” building at Jaffa’s Clock-Tower Square in January 4,1948,  headquarters of the attacking Arab street gangs. He and his comrade in arms Rachamim Chachamov, were both disguised as Arabs, carrying  necessary identification papers , when  passing through the military checkpoints, entering Jaffa.  They parked a truck packed with explosives next to the headquarters. They were suspected, fired upon and chased, but  managed to reach Tel-Aviv safely. The building was completely destroyed.   Nearly seventy rioters and their leaders were buried in its ruins. This operation had a demoralising effect on Jaffa’s population.

After this operation, Elisha embarked on another dangerous mission in 05.03.1948, driving a truck of explosives to the Nablus (Shchem) region, to blow up Fauzi Kauk’ji’s headquarters, commander of the ‘Arab Salvation Army’. Disguised as an Arab and escorted by an Arab underground agent, meant to guide him to that building, he was stopped at a military checkpoint, suspected (perhaps due to the treachery of the Arab), interrogated, tortured and executed. The underground kidnapped some prominent members of  Nablus’ Arab community for negotiation purposes, but in vain. To decharge the explosives,  two British experts, Stevenson and Hayt ( responsible for the explosion in Ben-Yehuda Street in Jerusalem) were brought in. The truck exploded killing the two along with two more British officers and some Arabs. Elisha’s family did not rest until they managed, with the mediation of IDF  Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren, to bring back Elisha’s body for burial in Israel. He was laid to final rest on  October 1,1950, in the military section of Nachalat-Yitzchak. His son Ya’acov has three children. The eldest carries his grandfather’s name: Elisha.

הנצחה באנדרטה ביער לח”י במשמר איילון
שמו של אלישע איבזוב חרוט על לוח באנדרטה ביער לח”י
לבנת זכרון על שם אלישע איבזוב בהיכל הזכרון הממלכתי בהר הרצל