BEN-HORIN (Zelig Bidner), ELIAHU

BEN-HORIN (Zelig Bidner ), ELIAHU (1902–1966), Zionist activist, journalist and writer. Ben-Horin was born in Balta, Ukraine and studied at the University of Odessa where he was chairman of the Zionist Students' Union. He was active in Zionist and self-defense clandestine organizations during the early years of the Soviet regime. Immigrating to Palestine in 1921, he joined the Histadrut and was among the founders of the collective settlement Ha-Sharon (later to become Kibbutz Yifat). He broke away from the Labor movement in 1928 to join the *Revisionist party and served on the editorial boards of the Revisionist press (Do'ar ha-Yom and Yarden). In 1931 he left the Haganah, and joined the *Irgun Ẓeva'i Le'ummi (izl), in which he served as *Jabotinsky's personal representative on its Supervisory Board. He participated in collecting funds and in the purchase of arms for the organization. He was a Revisionist delegate to the 17^th Zionist Congress (1931), and when the New Zionist Organization (nzo) was founded in 1935, he was elected to its presidency. During 1944–50 he cooperated with ex-President Herbert Hoover in formulating the "Hoover Plan" for settling Palestinian Arabs in Iraq. He also served as advisor on Middle Eastern affairs to the American Zionist Emergency Council. His works include The Red Army (1942) and The Middle East: Crossroads of History (1943).

bibliography:

Tidhar, 10 (1959), 3470–71; Dinur, Haganah, 2, index.

[Joseph Nedava]