Yisrael Galili (inventor)

Yisrael Galili (Hebrew: יִשְׂרָאֵל גְּלִילִי; born Yisrael Balashnikov; Russian: Исраэль Балашников; 1923 – 9 March 1995) was an Israeli weapons designer, best known for designing the Galil assault rifle. He also helped to create the Uzi submachine gun.

Early life

Galili was born Yisrael Balashnikov in Mishmar HaYarden, a moshava in the Upper Galilee in Mandatory Palestine, to Russian Jewish parents, though it is sometimes misreported that "Mishmar Hayarden" was either his birth name or located in the Soviet Union and that he immigrated from there as a child. His birth surname is often compared to Mikhail Kalashnikov, inventor of the AK-47, though they are not related. He kept the last name Balashnikov for most of his adult life, with his assault rifle design initially also being referred to as the Balashnikov, until the Israel Defense Forces adopted the firearm into its arsenal in 1972. He subsequently changed his name to Galili, after the Galilee region where he grew up in, terming the rifle the Galil. He was still commonly credited as "Yisrael Galili (Balashnikov)".

Career

Early in his life, Galili joined the Haganah. At 14, he was assigned to guard duties for a Jewish battalion of the British Army, where he stole his first rifle, albeit without ammunition, which he used to defend his family during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt. He entered the Max Fein Vocational School in Jaffa at age 16 and learnt to assemble weapons.