HARRY SABEL BRANCH

Harry Sabel was born on January 1^st, 1909 in East Ham, the seventh and youngest child of Leah and Abraham Abba. Like his brothers, he studied at the East Ham Technical School where he showed an early talent for mathematics and languages (which Pamela inherited). He left school at what to us seems the incredibly young age of fifteen. As was the norm in those times, he soon later opened his own business – London Surplus Stores in Hammersmith. The telephone number was Riverside 5355!

At age 21 he met his future wife, Gladys (Shapiro), at a wedding. They married on August 30^th, 1931. The wedding dinner was held at the Florence Restaurant, Rupert Street, London. Their first home was in Barnes and they later moved to 1a Delamere Rd. in Ealing. In addition to the surplus store they started a business supplying and laundering work uniforms,. Harry called it “Lloyds Overall Service”. Since they always addressed each other as “darling” and wanted to conceal that the business consisted only of the two of them, they it was explained to their customers that their names were Mr. and Mrs. Darling! They later sold the laundry business to the Initial Towel Company, who began to be apprehensive at the competition from this tiny outfit. With the proceeds they made what was at that time an adventurous trip across the ocean to the United States. They were seen off by the whole family! In the States they met with the Goldbergs and Saybells, with theand Berlins.

Pamela was born on September 12^th 1936 at Chiswick Hospital. Harry was staying with his parents and since it was Rosh Hashanah - out of respect for them he, in accordance with Jewish law, made the very long journey on foot!

OnAfter the outbreak of WWII, Harry volunteered to join the British Army, even though he had not been conscripted, and was sent to Officers Training School (Aldershot?Winchester?). Because of his abilities and talent for languages he was transferred to the Intelligence Corps and specialized in counter-intelligence, .which included, among other things, He later recalled having had to “hang out” in West End bars, keeping an ear open for loose talk. He later recalled that Oon onece occasion he overheard a conversation about British fighter aircraft with a television screen inside. Harry recounted that it sounded absolutely ridiculous to him, though he reported the conversation and thus perhaps prevented the leaking to the Germans of one of Britain’s greatest wartime secret; the development of airborne radar.

Harry was transferred to GHQ Cairo, where he served as a military censor, rising to the rank of Captain.. His superiors recommended that he be transferred to counter-intelligence in Cairo but the transfer was denied. It later came out that this was because of his close connections with the leaders of the Jewish community in what was then Palestine.In his diaries, which he sent home, he described his contacts with the Jewish community in Cairo. He found a cosmopolitan society far more , sophisticated community than the London Jewish community that he was familiar with. and heHe proudly conversed with them in French, in addition to the rudimentary Arabic which he had taught himself. Among the families he met there were the Ambasch sisters, one of whom later married Aubrey (Abba) Eban and another Vivian (Haim) Herzog.

Although not a Zionist, he became enthusiastic about Zionism after spending his leaves from the army in Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem and visiting some of what were then the innovative forms of communal life – the kibbutzim. It was there that he was “adopted” by some of the leaders of the Jewish leaders of the Yishuv (Jewish community of Palestine). His military superiors recommended that he be transferred to counter-intelligence in Cairo but the transfer was denied. It later came out that this was because of his close connections with leaders of the Jewish community in what was then Palestine.

Gladys, who was running the family business during the war years, moved the family to Knebworth away from the bombing and commuted daily to London. Robbie was born in 1941, in the cottage hospital of Knebworth. Family lore has it that

Pamela, at five years old, was less than delighted at the new arrival and competition and made various attempts to push him and his nanny into the bathtub!

Harry, although not a Zionist, became enthusiastic about Zionism after spending his leaves from the army in Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem and visiting some of the what were then the innovative forms of communal life – the kibbutzim. It was there that he was “adopted” by some of the leaders of the Jewish leaders of the Yishuv (Jewish community of Palestine) who later became Cabinet ministers in the first Government of Israel.

Having been away for three years, Harry returned home on a troop train arriving at Waterloo station. Robbie’s reaction when seeing him was to ask him to go back to Cairo! Later, however, Robbie apparently became reconciled to the idea of having a father around.

After the war Harry became involved in the Ealing Zionist movement and when Israel’s war of Independence broke out, he volunteered to join the Israel army, traveling to Israel illegally via the Haganah training camp in Marseilles, posing as a tourist. Harry was then 39 with two children and, understandably, Gladys was not at all happy at having him go off to another war. via the Haganah training camp in Marseilles (check name).

In what had now become Israel, Harry was appointed Chief Counter-Intelligence Officer for Jerusalem. The then commander of Israel Intelligence, Haim Herzog, told Harry that he was appointing him since Harry was one of the very few who combined British intelligence training with a sound Zionist background. Harry liked to recount that soon after taking up his post he began to receive reports of a suspicious Englishman hanging around Israeli army intelligence offices. Harry asked to put this man under strict surveillance and it quickly became obvious to him that he had ordered his own surveillance. Security was so strict in those days that his own intelligence operatives did not know that Harry was their commander!

When fighting had ceased in the Jerusalem area, Harry was joined by Gladys and the children. They still recall the flight to Israel in a Dakota DC3 aircraft. Lod (Ben-Gurion airport) was still in Arab hands and the plane was due therefore, to land at an unlit landing strip in Haifa. Since dark was approaching, the Belgian pilot informed the passengers that he would have to land in Beirut where there was proper lighting. This was when the war was still on. Only frantic objections from the passengers and the quick setting up of kerosene lamps along the landing strip finally persuaded the pilot to land in Haifa.

When the fighting finally ended, Harry was appointed the Israel Government Press Information Officer (PIO), acting, in this capacity as the Israel Government’s first Sspokesman to the world press.for the Israeli Government. In (?)Harry and Gladys bought a spacious apartment on Balfour Street in Jerusalem and Sidney, Betty and Peter were the first members of the Sabel family to visit them there,Harry and Gladys in Jerusalem and tTheir film of the visit became a staple feature at various London Zionist meetings.

Things in Israel were tough in those days. After having come through austerity and rationing in England, Gladys had to face rationing again in Israel in addition to wrestling with Hebrew, a language which she never completely mastered.

Her English austerity experience was put to good use, when she traveled to settlements of new immigrants and taught them how to use powdered eggs and milk. Even the Russian that she learned from her parents came of usein useful and she liked to recall how, when the Russian-speaking greengrocer tried to cheat her out of her ration of vegetables, this polite English lady shocked him by coming out with an explicit description in Russian of the greengrocer’s parents’ genital attributes! Gladys’s

parents vehemently denied that she could have learned such language at home!

Harry, although offered an Ambassadorial post in Israel’s new Foreign Service decided in 1950, to leave Government service and, for the rest of his career in Israel worked for the Jewish Agency and the Jewish National Fund, including stints in England and South Africa where he served as J.N.F. Director. His voice became well known to English speakers in the country as the reader of the early morning English news broadcast, using the pseudonym of Arye Segal. Harry continued working for the JNF beyond the official retirement age and died in 1978 aged 69.

Pamela, who was 12 when she came to Israel, found it very hard to adjust from the strict discipline of the Haberdasher’s Aske’s Girls School to the laxity of the Israeli co-ed school system compounded by the need to learn a new language. Robbie, who did not inherit Harry’s language talents, was equally unhappy in his first year. He recalls having the teacher call upon him to explain, in Hebrew, the British foreign policy of Ernest Bevin. Robbie burst into tears and ran away from school.

Harry left Government service and, for the rest of his career in Israel worked for the Jewish Agency and the Jewish National Fund, including stints in England and South Africa where he served as J.N.F. Director.

Pamela served in the Israel Army, studied languages at the Hebrew University (she speaks English, Hebrew, French, Spanish and German) and at the age of 19 married Werner Loval, then a young diplomat in the Israel Foreign Service. She had to receive special permission from the army to go abroad on her honeymoon. This was facilitated by Gladys calling up her friend Ruth Dayan, the wife of Moshe Dayan, to get the necessary authorization!

Pamela and Werner subsequently served at the Israel Embassies in Guatemala and Mexico . Werner then left the Foreign Service and founded the Jerusalem office of the Anglo-Saxon Real Estate Company, now Israel’s leading real estate company.

Pamela worked for many years as the head of the bureau of the President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and later as personal assistant to Aura Herzog, the wife of Israel’s sixth President (Haim Herzog).

Pamela and Werner have 4 children:

· Jonathan, an architect, married to Shirley. They have three children, Liron, Ori Harry, and Yael. They live in near Jerusalem.

· Bennie, who has a B.A. in computer studies and an M.A. in Business Administration has followed Werner into the Anglo-Saxon real estate company. He is married to Smadar and they have four children: Netta, Tamar, Amir and Hagai They live in near Jerusalem

· Debbie, who graduated in occupational therapy but now works in alternative medicine. She is married to David and they have three children; Tal, Maya and Shani. They live on Kibbutz Gezer, not far from Jerusalem.

· Daphna, who has an M.A. in Social Work, specializing in early childhood. She works with disadvantaged children and children at risk. She is married to Amir and they have (so far!) one son, Guy. They also live in near Jerusalem.

Robbie studied at Carmel College in England and returned to serve in the Israeli Army. His reserve duty was as Chief Military Censor for Jerusalem, interesting in view of Harry’s military career! Robbie then studied law at the Hebrew University, and began He joined the legal department of the Israel Foreign Ministry, rising to the post of the legal advisor with the rank of ambassador. He also served as the Political Counselor at the Israel Embassy in Washington, and aDeputy Director-General of the Israel Foreign Ministry and took part in the peace talks with Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinians. He obtained a Ph.D.- his thesis was published by the Cambridge University Press - and Oon retirement from the Foreign Ministry Robbie began teaching international law at the Hebrew University.

Robbie married Ruthie and they had two children; insert Ruthie’s career!! a social worker by training who is now the deputy head of the Jerusalem Probation Office, and incidentally related to the Berlins from Worcestoer Mass. Ruthie and Robbie had two children, a son, Danny who was the local Israel journalist for the LA Times. Danny served as a tank commander in the army, trekked over the Himalayas, studied history and philosophy at the Hebrew University and was an enthusiastic guitar player. Danny died of cancer aged 27.

Michal, a senior lawyer, in the Israel State Prosecutor’s Office who is married to Arnon, also a lawyer, who is in private practice. Michal and Arnon have three children: Dana, Omer and Tamar and they live near Jerusalem.