Ezer, Shmuel

Shmuel son of Kadan (nee Carudo) and David. He was born in Alexandria on November 22, 1929. Thanks to his talents, he began his studies at the Jewish community’s large school directly in the second grade with his cousin Moshe Talmi (Tahomi). He proved to be a prodigy in mathematics, and this talent stood out as the years passed. Shmuel graduated with honors from the Gymnasia of Alexandria. In 1948 he was accepted to the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the University of Alexandria. In the last academic year (1952), the university authorities prevented him from attending classes because of his Jewishness, and allowed him only to take the exam. Shmuel took the final exams and finished them with the highest grades ever won by a faculty student. In addition to his academic studies, Shmuel was interested in psychology, medicine, economics and Judaism. Most of all he loved art, and since his youth he was a painter and sculptor with great talent. Despite his many talents, Shmuel Haneo remained shy and introverted. In 1943 Shmuel joined the Hechalutz Hatzair Zionist youth movement, which began to operate under the leadership of Rafael Recanati, the energetic emissary from Palestine. Shmuel, the shy one, dragged his friends of his age to work in the movement, and together they established a Hebrew-speaking youth group. In 1946, Shmuel was chosen to be among a group of activists who went to two months of training in kibbutzim in Israel, among others in Gvat. Since then the movement and its club have become the center of Shmuel’s life. His paintings adorned the club, and in every event he was in charge of the set. At the beginning of 1951, Ovadia Danon, a member of the Mossad le-Aliya, brought Shmuel with Avraham Dar, who was sent to Egypt to set up underground cells. Shmuel was the first conscript. His main activity was during the construction of the cells. Abraham appointed him commander of a cell in Alexandria. As a well-known and respected figure in the community, Shmuel managed to recruit young people from her sons and to work energetically to formulate them. Shmuel was involved in setting up the infrastructure for the cells (Mifgash apartments, contacts, money, “Slikim”, etc.). Through Marcel Nino, he worked to maintain contact with the cell in Cairo, headed by Dr. Moshe Marzuk, and in the summer of 1954 the members of the units of Unit 131 in Alexandria received orders to carry out acts of sabotage in public facilities in it and in Cairo, at the time Shmuel was no longer active and prepared to immigrate to Israel, He joined the activities of his cellmates and was soon found, captured, brutally interrogated, tried in a show trial, and most of them were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment: Moshe Marzuq and Shmuel Ezer were sentenced to death by hanging on January 31, 1955. After their deaths, both were awarded the rank of lieutenant colonel (lieutenant colonel) on behalf of the IDF. On April 19, 1977, the coffins of Moshe Marzuk and Shmuel Ezer were brought to Israel. On the day after Independence Day (6 Iyar, April 24), they were buried in the Martyrs ‘Martyrs’ Section at the military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.