Ezra MacMull, third from left back row (wide hat, moustache) 1948
Ezra was born in Bombay, India on 7th September,1928 to Iraqi parents who moved to India.
At the age of 9 he was running in the streets selling Ghandi and Nahru’s books. He joined the British Air Force and began training to be a pilot but his mother told the authorities that he was under age and so he had to leave the Air Force.
He moved to England and volunteered to help the Jewish State. He travelled with other volunteers through Europe on fake passports to enable them to enter Israel and join in the fight for the State. Ezra’s Iraqi grandmother in fact lived in Jerusalem.
In 1948 Ezra joined the 7th Brigade, 72nd Battalion as platoon runner.
He participated in “Operation Hiram” with the 72nd Battalion. During the Operation, many fleeing Arabs crossing the border into Lebanon were directed by him as he spoke fluent Arabic. Joe Woolf, Machal’s Chief Researcher, tells that Ezra was sent as platoon runner into the valley to guide the relief force up the hill. He returned alone to report their non-arrival and was challenged by the battalion guard. He didn’t hear the challenge, and the guard fired at him. Fortunately he wasn’t hit and called out the password. The next time when he returned with the relief group, he shouted out the password from the bottom of the hill and repeated it all the way up!
After the war Ezra remained in Israel where he married and had three children, Eldad, Miriam and Roni. He moved to Toronto, Canada, when he divorced his first wife Rachel. He subsequently married Margaret, an Indian woman, and remained with her in Canada. Ezra passed away in Toronto on April 23rd, 2018
Source: Ezra’s daughter Miriam, and Joe Woolf, Machal’s Chief Researcher.
