Without Permission : Conversations, Letters, and Memoirs of Henry Mandel

A young Jewish veteran of the United States Merchant Marine gets caught up in efforts to assist the new state of Israel, undergoes a challenging and dangerous sea voyage and is imprisoned for that effort, and is released and returns to build a bazooka planet in Haifa during the Israeli War for Independence. "A fantastical propaganda play depicting an armed revolt financed the purchase of the yacht Abril and its conversion to an "illegal" immigrant passenger ship renamed the Ben Hecht. The plan was to evade the British naval blockade and bring Holocaust survivor refugees to Palestine. Henry Mandel volunteered aboard the Ben Hecht, a converted yacht that challenged the British blockade of Jewish immigrants to pre-state Israel. Captured and detained in Acre Prison, Mandel aided the efforts of prisoners planning an escape. After release, Mandel helped set up a secret bazooka shell plant in New York, which he helped to reassemble in Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Mandel was an Orthodox Jew whose reminiscences provide a uniquely illuminating perspective on the creation of the Jewish state. Mandel's story is explicated in a running commentary that includes the personal narratives of other members of the Ben Hecht crew as well as historical background"-- Provided by publisher Henry Mandel (1920-2015), a crewman aboard the Jewish Illegal Immigrant ship Abril/Ben Hecht, a prisoner in Acre fortress and a volunteer for the Israeli Army during the 1948 Arab - Israeli War, was an Orthodox Jew whose reminiscences provide a uniquely illuminating perspective on the creation of the Jewish state. Mandel smuggled in electric batteries to prisoners planning an escape from Acre Prison. After being released, Mandel helped set-up a secret bazooka shell plant in New York which was reassembled in Israel with his assistance as a foreign volunteer. Personal narratives of the Ben Hecht crew are complemented by editorial historical analysis