Geulah Cohen

Cohen was born in Tel Aviv on December 25, 1925, to Yosef and Miriam Cohen. Her father immigrated from Yemen in 1905 and helped found the Yemenite Association in Palestine; her mother descended from a Moroccan Jewish family established in Palestine during the nineteenth century.[3] She joined Betar, the Revisionist Zionist youth movement, and then the Irgun before moving to Lehi in 1943. Her underground involvement ended her studies at Levinsky Teachers’ Seminary.[1][2]

Cohen became a principal announcer for Lehi’s clandestine radio station. She broadcast under the underground name “Ilana,” and on February 18, 1946, British authorities arrested her while she was transmitting from Hashomer Street in Tel Aviv. Her arrest followed a period underground in which she had left her parents’ home and worked against British rule.[5][4] Lehi employed violence against British rule, making Cohen’s role in the organization a politically and historically sensitive part of her biography.[1][3]

Accounts differ on the sentence imposed after her arrest. Contemporary Ynet accounts give either nine or seven years, with the latter figure drawn from documents in an Israel State Archives file.[5][4] An older Encyclopaedia Judaica entry gives 19 years.[6] The archival report says she was charged with possessing a wireless broadcasting station and four pistols with 48 bullets.[5]

Cohen was held at the women’s prison in Bethlehem. A first escape attempt in April 1946 failed: she reached a nearby road but was recaptured after two shepherds alerted police. On April 12, 1947, she escaped from a government hospital in Jerusalem, where she had been taken after contracting severe pneumonia. Archival documents describe a plan involving a cousin disguised as an Arab woman; Cohen left wearing Arab clothing, changed into European clothes in Jerusalem and continued to Tel Aviv.[5] Other biographies summarize the episode as her escape from British custody and return to broadcasting.[1][2]

More than six decades later, Cohen met Robert Painter, the former British soldier involved in her arrest. Painter recalled seeing her emerge covered by a blanket. Cohen said she was not angry and remarked, “I have not finished my war.” Their meeting ended on the roof of the King David Hotel, looking toward the Old City.[7]

After Israel’s establishment, Cohen studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, earning a master’s degree in Bible studies, literature and philosophy. She also founded a student association called Sela, rendered as “Students for a Hebrew Revolution.”[3][4]

From 1948 to 1960, Cohen served on the editorial board of Sulam, a political monthly published by Israel Eldad. She subsequently joined Ma’ariv as a columnist and editorial-board member, remaining there until her election to the Knesset in 1973.[1][2] She also worked as a broadcaster on Kol Yisrael and had a weekly program.[4] She was among five Ma’ariv journalists later elected to the Knesset.[8]

At Ma’ariv, Cohen ran a weekly feature called HaShulhan HaMerub’a (“The Square Table”), an edited symposium in which public figures, writers and politicians responded to common questions. S. Y. Agnon took part three times; for one contribution, Cohen prepared a written account of his responses, which Agnon reviewed before publication.[9] On September 27, 1964, she asked participants about the Israel Defense Forces and the meaning of a Jewish army. They included Agnon, then-chief of the general staff Yitzhak Rabin, philosopher Nathan Rotenstreich, poet Haim Gouri and parliamentarian Moshe Unna.[9]

Cohen published her first book, the autobiographical Sipurah shel Lohamte (“The Story of a Woman Fighter”), in 1960.[4] It went through numerous editions and was translated into English, Russian, French and Dutch.[10] Her other books included Ha-Tapuz she-Ba'ar ve-Hetzit Levavot (“The Orange That Burned and Lit Up Hearts,” 1979) and Mifgash Histori (“An Historic Meeting,” 1986).[2]

Cohen took part in campaigns for Soviet Jewry after the Six-Day War. In December 1969, she traveled across the United States with activists Dov Sperling and Yasha Kazakov, with financial assistance from Bernard Deutsch. The tour culminated in a hunger strike near the United Nations building and drew international attention to the campaign for Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union.[10]

Accounts differ over the precise year in which she joined Herut or its political framework: one biography gives 1970, while another gives 1972.[10][2] She also founded Midrashah Le’ummit under Herut’s auspices as an educational institution inspired by Lehi.[2] Cohen was elected to the Eighth Knesset on the Likud list in 1973. Sources differ on whether to date her parliamentary service from the election year or from 1974, but agree that she remained in the Knesset until 1992.[2][3]

After the 1977 political change, Cohen chaired the Knesset Immigration and Absorption Committee, which she had helped establish, and also served on the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.[10][4] Her parliamentary work included advocacy for immigrants and involvement in debates about military service, territorial policy and the status of Jerusalem. Accounts variously describe her tenure as 18 years, nearly 19 years or 19 consecutive years.[10][1]

Cohen opposed the Camp David agreements and the peace treaty with Egypt, particularly the return of Sinai and the prospect of territorial withdrawal. After Menachem Begin published peace proposals, she organized opposition within Likud. She left Herut and, with Knesset member Moshe Shamir, formed the Tehiya-Banai parliamentary group; in October 1979 she established the Tehiya party with defectors from Herut, the Movement for Greater Israel and Gush Emunim.[1][2]

The exact chronology varies among the sources: some date her break with Likud to 1978, while others place her formal departure from Herut and Tehiya’s creation in 1979.[2][3] Tehiya was a nationalist party opposed to Israeli withdrawal from areas it considered part of the Land of Israel. A 1981 memorandum described it as a right-wing party formed to protest what some regarded as excessive concessions in the Camp David agreements, and identified Yuval Ne’eman as its head and Cohen and Moshe Shamir as its Knesset representatives.[11]

Cohen’s activism extended beyond parliamentary opposition. During the campaign against evacuating the Yamit settlements in Sinai, she moved to Yamit to assist its residents. She advocated an agreement with Egypt based on “peace for peace,” rather than territorial exchange, and opposed the dismantling of Yamit.[12] A later profile recounts that she moved there the night before its scheduled evacuation in 1982. It also says that in 1994 she moved to Hebron, where she stayed for seven years, describing the move as her “reserve duty.”[13]

Her territorial positions continued to shape her later public activity. She supported Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip, opposed withdrawal from areas captured in the Six-Day War, and later campaigned against the Oslo accords and the 2005 Gaza disengagement.[2][3] She also participated in settlement campaigns and opposed the evacuation of communities in Yamit and Sinai.[10]

Cohen’s best-known legislative initiative was Basic Law: Jerusalem, the Capital of Israel. The Knesset adopted the law in 1980, declaring that “Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel.”[10][4] A contemporaneous American Jewish Committee memorandum says her private-member’s bill began on May 14 and was adopted as a Basic Law on July 30. A sermon from the same year instead says she introduced the bill “in April,” leaving the proposal’s precise introduction date unresolved.[11][14]

The law also addressed Jerusalem’s role as the seat of the President, Knesset, government and Supreme Court, and provided for protection of and access to holy places.[11] The political motivation attributed to Cohen differs between the contemporary accounts: the sermon presents her aim as preventing an autonomy agreement that might diminish Israeli sovereignty claims over a united Jerusalem, while the memorandum focuses on the law’s provisions.[11][14]

A year later, Cohen and Moshe Shamir advanced legislation extending Israeli law and administration to the Golan Heights. Cohen also sought legislation extending Israeli law and administration to Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip, but that effort did not pass.[2][4]

In 1987, Cohen and fellow MK Edna Soloder founded a Knesset lobby for Jonathan Pollard. They were the first Knesset members to visit Pollard and his wife in prison in the United States. In 1990 they raised the demand that the couple receive Israeli citizenship; the demand was answered five years later. Cohen continued working for Pollard’s release during the Twelfth Knesset.[10][4]

On July 9, 1986, the Knesset referred a motion for the agenda submitted by Cohen to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. It called for action against draft evaders from non-Zionist yeshivas and challenged exemptions from Israel Defense Forces service for yeshiva students.[15]

During the debate, Cohen said that 700 yeshiva students had requested exemptions in 1981 and that the number had doubled by 1986. She questioned the increase and argued that some applicants used repeated deferments to avoid service until they passed conscription age. These figures and claims were part of her argument, not independently established findings.[15] She said the issue concerned “not merely moral distortions relating to quality of life, but moral distortions that touch upon life itself—matters of life and death.”[15]

Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin did not dispute Cohen’s remarks about the exemptions, but argued that political constraints required continuation of the existing arrangement. He said successive governments had considered the question repeatedly and that her motion did not provide a reason to change policy.[15] After the committee discussed the proposal on December 23, 1986, it established a subcommittee to re-examine exemptions. Chaired by MK Menachem Cohen—not Geulah Cohen—the subcommittee reported on July 18, 1988, with a majority supporting proposed frameworks for conscripting yeshiva students.[15]

Sources differ on Cohen’s exact government title in 1990. The Center for Israel Education and Jewish Virtual Library identify her as minister of science and technology in the government formed by Yitzhak Shamir.[1][2] Ynet and the Jewish Women’s Archive describe her as deputy science minister during at least part of that period.[3][4]

In September 1990, following reports of hardship among Ethiopian Jews in camps in Addis Ababa, Cohen traveled to Ethiopia and met government ministers. Accounts credit her meetings with making an important contribution to Operation Solomon, which began several months later. She also worked on family reunification, the absorption of immigrant scientists and broader efforts concerning Ethiopian immigration and absorption.[10][4]

In November 1991, after the Madrid Conference, Cohen left the government with Tehiya. The party failed to pass the qualifying threshold in the 1992 election, after which she returned to Likud. She sought a return to parliament but did not secure a place on the party list for the Fourteenth Knesset.[2] In the 1996 Likud primaries, she was among veteran politicians left outside the 42 positions considered safe. Reserved seats promised to Tzomet and Gesher had reduced the number of safe places available in the primary.[16]

In 1998, Cohen initiated and established the Uri Zvi Greenberg Poet Heritage House in Jerusalem and managed it voluntarily. The center hosted seminars and lectures for teachers, students, soldiers, new immigrants and the wider public.[10]

Cohen received the Israel Prize in 2003 for lifetime achievement and special contribution to society and the state.[10][12] The prize judges cited her underground activity, journalism, parliamentary service, immigration advocacy, settlement activism and cultural and educational initiatives. They characterized her work as a “total and rare mobilization in the service of the people and the state,” and said her adherence to her principles inspired people, including some who disagreed with her views.[10] Other honors included being named “Beloved of Jerusalem” in 2007 and “Beloved of the Settlement Movement” in 2014. She also lit a torch at the Mount Herzl Independence Day ceremony marking Israel’s 66th anniversary.[12]

At an event marking Cohen’s 90th birthday, President Reuven Rivlin described her as “a fighter for Israel’s freedom at the deepest level of the idea.” The event’s panels considered her underground years, Knesset work, settlement activity and cultural-national work.[17] A profile also recounts that, when she received the Israel Prize, Cohen said the award should instead go to Rabbi Moshe Levinger.[13]

Cohen’s public persona combined parliamentary work, journalism and direct political activism. One account describes her introducing Egyptian visitor Sanaa Hassan before Anwar Sadat’s visit to Israel. Hassan’s visit caused an outcry in Egypt, and her subsequent book about her impressions, including her acquaintance with Cohen, was banned there. The same account recounts that Cohen later tore up the Egypt peace agreement theatrically in the Knesset chamber after meeting Egyptian journalist Anis Mansour.[18]

Cohen’s opposition to the peace agreement with Egypt, territorial withdrawal and the Oslo accords, together with her support for settlement and Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, placed her in major political disputes over Israel’s borders, peace agreements and territorial policy.[2][3]

Most sources give Cohen’s birth date as December 25, 1925.[3][4] An older Encyclopaedia Judaica entry instead gives 1929, while the Jewish Virtual Library page heading displays “1929–2020” even though its text reports that she died in 2019.[2][6] The Jewish Virtual Library and the original Ynet obituary support December 18, 2019, as her death date.[2][4] A later Ynet archival article gives December 19, while the Jewish Women’s Archive page heading gives December 15.[3][5]

Other discrepancies concern the length of her prison sentence, party chronology, parliamentary service and the year of her Israel Prize. Ynet accounts give prison sentences of seven or nine years, while Encyclopaedia Judaica gives 19 years.[5][6] Accounts date her break with Likud or Herut to 1978 or 1979 and describe her Knesset tenure as 18, nearly 19 or 19 years.[1][2] The Jewish Virtual Library and Jewish Women’s Archive give the Israel Prize year as 2003, while Encyclopedia.com gives 2001.[2][19] The better-supported award year is 2003.