NY Post & COLlive
The first Israeli fighter pilot to shoot down an enemy plane in the country’s War of Independence died this week after teaching school in Miami for some 30 years under an assumed name — because he’d been targeted for assassination.
New Jersey-born Gideon Lichtman, known to generations of students at Southwest Miami Senior High as the affable “Mr. Rimon,’’ had been warned in 1948 by former Israeli president Ezer Weizman that his name was on an Arab hit list, the Miami Herald reported.
“Your life is in danger,’’ Weizman told Lichtman in 1948, citing intelligence intercepts showing the country’s enemies were targeting its foreign pilots, Lichtman’s son, Bruce, told the newspaper.
Weizman also created the pseudonym “Rimon,’’ which is Hebrew for both pomegranate and grenade.
In 1998, Lichtman gave the Herald a chilling account of his heroic mission — carried out in an old, decrepit plane, a Messerschmitt.
“I go into a dive and I’m flipping switches and the flaps are going down and all kinds of things are happening,” he said.
“Through the dust and the haze, I see a shadow, and it’s an Egyptian Spit. He sees me. By this time, we’re heading south over the Mediterranean. We got into a wild-ass dogfight. Meanwhile, my red light goes on that my fuel is low. . . . I see pieces falling off him. I follow him down, shooting after him. Then I check my fuel gauge, and it’s on empty.”
But he hit his mark.
The enemy Spitfire crashed into the sea. Before the war was over, Lichtman had flown about 90 missions.
The hero aviator, who died peacefully at 94, was born in Newark. After emigrating to the US, he earned a degree in education from the University of Miami in 1950, and taught history, business and work experience at the high school.
“My dad was so wonderful with the work experience kids because he made them feel like they were heroes rather than second best because they weren’t getting A’s in calculus and not going to M.I.T,” his son said.
Officiating his funeral was Rabbi Mendy Weiss, co-director of Chabad of North West Dade / Miami Lakes and a longtime friend of Lichtman. He paid tribute to Lichtman for his self-sacrifice for his people and dedicating his life to helping others.
Also paying tribute to Lichtman was producer Nancy Spielberg, who produced the documentary “Above and Beyond,” the true story of the pilots during Israel’s war of 1948.
“A hero to both the American and Jewish peoples, Giddy inspired everyone he met with his energy, candor and confidence. It was a real honor to get to know Giddy during the making of Above and Beyond(2014). Giddy, you are sorely missed!” she wrote.
Thanks to people like Gideon we have our on State.
BD”E. May Hashem bless him and his family.
may he pray for all the jewish people that this galus should end
and especially that the world should recognise truth of Israel
daven for all of us
bang down the gates of golus
bd”e