Twito, Mordechai (Paul)

Son of Zaida-Louisa and Said-Prosper, was born on 25 June 1924 in Tunis. After completing his studies at the Alliance School, he began to work in sewing shoes and purses. From his early days, he developed a Zionist outlook that was expressed both in his sermons and in his actual actions, in his march at the head of young people who protected the Jewish quarter during Arab pogroms. During the Nazi regime they arrested him as the head of the defenders and held him in a detention camp where he was forced to serve in forced labor. In Tunis he enlisted soldiers to help the country and was recruited to Machal, where he succeeded in moving to France, where he trained for six months, and immigrated to Israel on May 8, 1948. He joined the “French Commando” as part of the Negev Brigade. Members of his community abroad. He took part in the battles in Be’er Sheva, was injured in his hand but continued to fight. When he was photographed while wounded, he folded his hands behind his back to hide his bandages and not upset his parents. When his commander was looking for a volunteer to sever the telephone connection between Bir Asluj and the enemy headquarters, he was surprised when they told him that Mordechai had already done so early. During Operation Horev to remove the Egyptian army from the country, the French Commando was forced to conquer the Tamila outposts on the Beersheba-Nitzana road. The company succeeded in conquering one of the outposts and preparing it, but the Egyptians launched a counterattack under cover from the outposts that had not yet been conquered. After a number of attacks were repulsed, the force was forced to retreat in light of the Egyptian priority, and only after the arrival of reinforcements were the Egyptian outposts occupied. This battle took place on the 24th of Kislev 5709 (26.12.1948), three days after the cost of his parents to Israel. He was buried in Revivim. On the 15th of Iyar 5712 (15.5.1952), he was transferred to eternal rest in the military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.