Thursday, July 28, 2022, 17:12 Baruch Dayan HaEmet. On Thursday, July 28, Attorney Ya’akov Heruti, z”l, a member of the Lehi organization, passed away. For the past few years, Heruti was a member of Honenu’s public advisory council. Honenu director Shmuel (Zangi) Meidad eulogized Heruti:
Dear Ya’akov was a Lehi member with every fiber of his body, a dear and close friend, first and foremost with regard to everything that has holiness, the holiness of Am Yisrael, the holiness of Eretz Yisrael. We were fortunate that Ya’akov honored us with his presence on Honenu’s public advisory council. He was always supportive and willing to listen. Ya’akov Heruti will have a permanent place among the heroes of Israel.
In 1927, Ya’akov Heruti was born in Tel Aviv to parents who had emigrated from Poland. His father, Mordechai Walker, one of the founders of HaShomer HaTzair in Poland, Hebraicized his name to “Heruti” – the liberty of Israel (חרותי – חרות ישראל). Ya’akov joined Lehi, one of the pre-state underground movements in Israel, and was a member of the technical department. A method that he invented enabled Lehi to secretly prepare explosives. In April 1947, one of the bombs that the technical department produced was hidden in the British Police building in the Sarona area of Tel Aviv. The explosion completely destroyed the building.
Half a year later, Heruti was sent to Britain to establish a branch of Lehi and to recruit new members. Heruti was one of the initiators of a revenge operation against Major Roy Farran, a British officer who was suspected and tried in a British military court in Jerusalem for torturing and cruelly murdering Alexander Rubowitz, Hy”d, a young man who disappeared while putting up Lehi posters. During his time in England, Heruti also studied law at London University. He lived in Tel Aviv and practiced law.