Documents reached "Israel Today" say that Cohen refuses to be a lawyer, and sentenced her sentence • Read her inspirational speech in the military court

• Photo: Flash 90

Geula Cohen, who passed away tonight (Thursday) at the age of 93 has worked a lot in her life. She was a politician, a member of the Knesset and the bride of the Israel Prize. However, its public action began many years earlier, in a head-on clash with the British army and police, as a member of the Lehi underground. Rare documents came from the British Mandate that deal with Cohen's fate after being caught broadcasting as a voice in the "Hebrew underground" Prosecution

Cohen joined Lehi in 1943 and served as a narrator on the organization's underground radio station. For many years, under the cover of "Ilana", it broadcast content of the secret underground, on the way to establishing a Jewish state.

On February 18, 1946, Cohen was caught in the middle of a broadcast on Hashomer Street in Tel Aviv. Cohen's trial revealed that Sergeant Seidel, a member of the British intelligence agency, had identified two suspicious people entering the house, chased them and put them on the roof. A police station was found in the search of a broadcasting station, which was still hot, which proved to have been operating shortly before. In addition, there is a note that reads "Listen to the voice of the underground. Listen to the broadcast station of Israeli freedom fighters." Charged guns were also found in the room. Later, Yitzhak Hasson, head of the organization's intelligence department, blamed Lieutenant General Yitzhak Shamir (later prime minister) for ignoring the news of British police vehicles with antennas roaming Hashomer Street and identifying the broadcast

An official document of the British Military Tribunal of June 1, 1946, four months after he was apprehended, set a date for Cohen's trial. "The hearing in this case was set for the military court in Jerusalem at 9:00 am on Thursday - June 6, 1946," the document reads. In the indictment against Geula Cohen, "also known as Shoshana Halevi," the ID card she held when she was seized, she was charged with possession of a broadcast station without a license and possession of weapons and ammunition.

"At exactly 9:30, Geula Cohen entered the defendants' cell with vigorous steps," the reporter, the "Observer", described the beginning of the trial. "The courtroom was attended by Geula Cohen's parents and her family, and several of her friends. The trial also followed English and American journalists," another wrote.

Cohen refused to have a lawyer, and when asked if she wanted the British prosecutor's words translated to her, she replied "I'm not interested in the trial." At the conclusion of the prosecution testimony, she was asked if she wanted to testify and decided to make a statement. This is how she was documented in the Observer newspaper: "I find no need at all to answer this charge. Confession or non-admission comes only when a court recognizes its right to judge and hear. The blame exists only where there is also a right for the accused to blame."

"I am a Hebrew warrior, a daughter of the Israel Liberty Fighters movement, the same movement that sees you as a foreign power that enslaves the homeland. I have only one law that I voluntarily imposed on myself, is the law of the Hebrew underground. In other words: the laws of the Hebrew people fighting for their freedom" , She said. "You are our object of war, demand that we obey your laws. You do not want to admit that there is a fighting force against you. It is not convenient for you. We see you as illegal in our country. Hence we also see your laws, the good and the bad, as illegal. We the Jewish people want and strive for Our freedom is complete, and therefore there is a chasm between the two camps, and that there is no chasm between a law that aims to enslave and oppress and a law that aims to liberate? Every foreign ruler is our enemy, not because he is evil or British, but because he is a foreigner and is not a Hebrew. We meet with British deceit and hypocrisy. "

From the "Observer" Newspaper

"You are thinking of discussing me, that is, you are going to prosecute the will of the nation's liberty. You are thinking of prosecuting the will of the nation's liberty, a wish they could not have been better than you, and no power in the world. Think about getting this in prison for me and my comrades? The idea? We did not create the idea, but the idea created us, and we could not. It will remain. I do not know and do not care about the charges you are accusing me of. But I do know that there is a section under which you may be sentenced to death. I do not know if you have the courage to use it You can judge me according to your laws, I require special treatment like a prisoner of war.

"As a young warrior stands before you, remark that she is a victim of the temptation of others. I would like to draw your attention that the idea of ​​liberty and the war on bondage is not necessary to lure and buy hearts. He himself conquers the people who will fight for him. "This temptation is blessed."

Minutes later the verdict was given. The June 14, 1946 document states that "after hearing the facts, the court ruled that Geula Cohen was guilty and sentenced her to two years for the illegal transmission and 7 years in prison for the firearm maintenance. The two sentences will run together."

Cohen spent a total of 14 years in the women's prison in Bethlehem, where, among other things, she was injured by gunfire as a result of a failed escape attempt. She then managed to escape with a daring operation, in which she disguised herself as an Arab, hid in Haifa and finally returned to underground activity.