Cohen, Habakkuk

Son of Chava and Yaakov-Meir, was born on June 12, 1920 in the city of Berisha, Poland, and when he was two years old he immigrated with his family to Israel. Here he studied “sitting” and even specialized in bookkeeping. He was God-fearing and innocent in all his ways, and he lived from the depths of his hands. He worked as a construction worker at the Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus and the other workers took part in guarding the hospital and the environment. The road to Mount Scopus passed through the Arab Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and when the war broke out, the movement was allowed to mount convoys secured by the British army. On the morning of April 13, 1948, a convoy left for Mount Scopus, after the British promised that the road was open and safe. The convoy encountered an Arab ambush in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and hundreds of Arabs hurled heavy gunfire at it. Some of the vehicles managed to get out and return, but two buses, an ambulance and an escort vehicle were ambushed. For many hours the convoy members fought and tried to prevent the Arabs from approaching the vehicles. Fire from our positions in the city and Mount Scopus, as well as armored vehicles sent to the area, failed to help the convoy. British military forces in the area did not intervene and did nothing to help, despite appeals to them. In the afternoon, the Arabs managed to set fire to two buses on their passengers, and only later in the evening did the British intervene and rescue the survivors from the trapped vehicles. ). He was laid to rest in the cemetery in Sanhedria. His older brother, Akiva, who came to Jerusalem to comfort his parents in their mourning, also fell two months later.