Yosef Lishansky (; 1890 – 16 December 1917) was a Jewish paramilitary and a spy for the British in Ottoman Palestine. Upon his arrival in Palestine, Lishansky sought to join HaShomer but, denied membership, he founded a rival organization, HaMagen. Several years later, he joined the Jewish espionage organization, Nili. Lishansky was wanted by the Ottomans for his activities and was betrayed by HaShomer when he sought refuge with them. He escaped capture several times, but was eventually caught and sentenced to death in Damascus.
Early life
Lishansky was born near Kiev in the Russian Empire in 1890, to Eidel and Ya'akov Toviah. After most of his family was killed in a fire, he made Aliyah with his father (the reported year of their Aliyah varies between 1891 and 1896). They settled with Yosef's brother, Israel, who was living in Metula. His father soon disappeared during a trip to Jerusalem, and Lishansky began living at his brother's home. Excelling in his studies, he was sent to a seminar in Jerusalem, but did not complete his educational studies due to financial difficulties. Instead, Yosef travelled to Egypt, where he managed an agricultural farm for two years and then returned to the Land of Israel. In 1910, he married Rivka Broshkovsky, and they had a daughter, Ivriya, and a son, Toviah.
Jewish defense organizations
In 1912, Lishansky attempted to join the HaShomer organization. HaShomer required a trial period for all recruits, and Lishansky was sent to guard in Poria, Rishon LeZion, Ben Shemen and finally Menahemia. In February 1915, Lishansky's force killed the leader of an Arab gang that attacked the village. Because of HaShomer's policy of avoiding blood feuds with the Arabs, Lishansky was declined entry to the organization. This was later perceived simply as an excuse not to accept Lishansky, who was proficient in the use of weapons, horseback riding and Arabic. Israel Shochat, a leader of HaShomer, later wrote that Lishansky often demonstrated weakness, adventurism and boastfulness.
Lishansky then decided to form a rival organization, named HaMagen ("The Shield"), which included rejected HaShomer members. The group did not wish to directly compete with HaShomer, so they selected the southern Jewish villages, which were previously guarded by Arabs. Lishansky was chosen as the leader of the organization, and travelled to the south to negotiate with the villages. HaMagen replaced the Arab guards in Ruhama, Be'er Tuvia and Mazkeret Batya, and later Gedera. Despite a clause in HaMagen's charter preventing it from guarding villages formerly or presently guarded by HaShomer, the latter attempted and failed to disband HaMagen.
In January 1917, unknown by his HaMagen co-members, Lishansky left Egypt to focus on his activities in Nili. Ill will was created and led to the decline of HaMagen. Despite this, some HaMagen members joined Lishansky in Nili.
Nili activities and death
Lishansky joined Nili in December 1915, when Avshalom Feinberg was arrested for espionage and held in Beersheba. Because he was active in the south, he was recruited by Feinberg to pass information to and from Sarah Aaronsohn, who was operating from Atlit. He did this by hiding notes in the loaves of bread passed to the prisoners. In January 1917, after Feinberg was released and sought to secretly travel to Egypt to meet with the British, he was accompanied by Lishansky, who had intimate knowledge of the area. On 20 January they were attacked by two Ottoman soldiers and a gang of Bedouin near Rafah, which left Feinberg dead and Lishansky wounded. Lishansky was left to die but managed to reach a British patrol that took him to a hospital in Port Said, where he met Aaron Aaronsohn on 25 January 1917, and told him about Feinberg's death. Because Lishansky was the only witness to the killing, rumors started circulating that he was the one who killed Feinberg for personal reasons, or because of a romance with Sarah Aaronsohn. They were disproved only after the Six-Day War, when Feinberg's remains were found and the Bedouin in the region interrogated.
Lishansky subsequently returned to Atlit, Nili's central base of operations, and shifted his entire focus on the organization. He was responsible for collecting espionage reports from Nili agents in the vicinity, and managing the finances funnelled from Egypt. In April 1917, Lishansky again travelled to Egypt, against the will of his superior, Aaron Aaronsohn. He returned in June and continued his activity in Nili.