Pre-state fighter who hid Stern Gang leader dies

Tova Svorai, at whose Tel Aviv apartment Stern Gang leader Avraham "Yair" Stern was gunned down by British police in February 1942, died on Sunday at the age of 97.

Svorai and her husband Moshe, who died a year and a half ago, were members of the Stern Gang, an underground militant Zionist group in the pre-state era that was dedicated to driving out the British and establishing a Jewish state in the land of Israel.

Stern founded the group in 1940 after splitting from the Irgun over an ideological dispute. Stern reached the top of the most wanted list of the British authorities that ruled Mandatory Palestine and he moved around frequently to avoid arrest.

On February 12, 1942, Stern was staying at the Svorai couple's apartment in Tel Aviv's Florentine neighborhood. British police arrived and searched the apartment. At first, they didn't find anything. But one of the policemen then put his hand in the closet where Stern was hiding and pulled him out. Tova jumped in front of Stern to protect him from being shot on the spot.

"My mother was a heroine," Tova's daughter Smadar said on Monday.

After being forced to leave the apartment, Tova heard gunshots. The British police had handcuffed Stern and shot him dead in the room in which he had been found.

In the early 1980s, Tova and Moshe were among the founders of the Shaked community in Samaria.

"They had a great love for the land and it was important for them to settle the land, particularly Samaria," Smadar said of her parents.

Tova opened a library in Shaked and instituted a story hour for the children of the community. In recent years, Tova had taken up painting, despite poor vision, her daughter said.

Gershon Mesika, head of the Samaria Regional Council, said on Monday, "The residents of Samaria and the people of Israel mourn the passing of an Israeli freedom fighter. Tova Svorai was a national role model in the struggle for the freedom of the Jewish people, the restoration of the State of Israel and the establishment of communities in Samaria."

Tova's funeral was set to be held in Haifa on Tuesday.

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