{{Short description|Israeli Intelligence Community founder}} {{Infobox person | name = Shaul Avigur | image = Shaul Avigur.jpg | native_name = שאול אביגור | native_name_lang = he | birth_name = Saul Meyeroff | birth_date = {{Birth date|1899|09|11|df=y}} | birth_place = Dvinsk, Russian Empire | death_date = {{Death date and age|1978|08|29|1899|09|11|df=y}} | occupation = Intelligence officer | known_for = Founding member of the Israeli Intelligence Community | awards = Israel Prize | module = {{Infobox officeholder | embed = yes | office = Head of Nativ | term_start = 1953 | term_end = 1970 }} }} '''Shaul Avigur''' ({{langx|he|שאול אביגור}}; 11 September 1899 – 29 August 1978) was a founder of the Israeli Intelligence Community.
==Biography== Avigur was born in Dvinsk under the name '''Saul Meyeroff''' (''later'' '''Meirov'''; {{langx|he|מאירוב}}), but when his son '''Gur Meyeroff''' was killed in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, he changed it to ''Avigur'', meaning "Father of Gur". Along with Reuven Shiloah, Avigur was instrumental in forming SHAI, the intelligence wing of the Haganah, in 1934. Since 1939 he was involved in the Mossad Le'aliyah Bet operations to smuggle Jews into the British Mandate of Palestine and was named its commander. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, he acted as David Ben-Gurion's deputy defense minister. In 1953 he was appointed the founding head of the "Liaison Bureau" (Lishkat Hakesher), also known as "Nativ", an Israeli organization that maintained contact with Jews in the Soviet Union during the Cold War. He headed the organization until 1970. Avigur was the brother-in-law of former Prime Minister Moshe Sharett.
==Awards== In 1973, Avigur was awarded the Israel Prize, for his special contribution to society and the State.<ref name=prize>{{Cite web| title = Israel Prize Official Site – Recipients in 1973 (in Hebrew)| url = http://cms.education.gov.il/educationcms/units/prasisrael/tashlag/tashmab_tashlag_rikuz.htm?dictionarykey=tashlag}}</ref>
==See also== * List of Israel Prize recipients * Nehemiah Levanon (1915–2003), Nativ operative in the USSR
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==References== *{{cite book |author-link=Dan Raviv |last=Raviv |first=Dan |authorlink2=Yossi Melman |last2=Melman |first2=Yossi |title=Every Spy a Prince: The Complete History of Israel's Intelligence Community |location=Boston |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company |year=1990 |isbn=0-395-47102-8 }} *{{cite book |last=Boaz |first=Arieh |title=Unseen Yet Always Present: The Life Story of Shaul Avigur |location=Tel-Aviv |publisher=Ministry of Defence |year=2001 |isbn=965-05-1133-4 |language=Hebrew }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Avigur, Shaul}} Category:1899 births Category:1978 deaths Category:Military personnel from Daugavpils Category:People from Dvinsky Uyezd Category:Jews from the Russian Empire Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the Ottoman Empire Category:Ashkenazi Jews from Ottoman Palestine Category:Ashkenazi Jews in Mandatory Palestine Category:Aliyah Bet activists Category:Haganah members Category:People of Israeli intelligence agencies Category:Israel Prize for special contribution to society and the State recipients Category:Immigrants to Ottoman Palestine Category:Burials at Kinneret Cemetery Category:Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium alumni
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