"The Yellow Devil": Images of Female Warriors of the Israeli War of Independence

My lecture deals with images of women warriors in the visual culture of Pre-State Israel, during the war of independence, (1947- 1948). I will demonstrate the role of images in the creation of the myth of the Israeli female warrior.

In Israeli collective memory, women had a substantial part during the 1948 independence war. Some had significant military roles as warriors, guards, observers and weapon carriers as Palmach or Haggana members. Others carried out home front duties, serving as drivers, technicians, radio operators, nurses, etc. However, most women recruited held traditional female roles, mainly as cooking and laundering, or serving as "mothers" or "sisters" for the troop, keeping good atmosphere when the male warriors returned from the front lines.

The most familiar figure who filled in all of these roles was the Palmach member Netiva Ben- Yehuda. She was known as "the yellow devil". Her unique character was caught by a camera lens. Netiva`s image became a prototype of the female soldier during the Israeli independence war: Strong, powerful, independent, assertive, masculine behavior and looks, and above all – military skills.

Thanks to artists, such photographers and painters, young women soldier`s presence was very well noticed. Those zabbar female warriors, wearing Khaki male cloths and carrying rifles, joining the troops in fighting, became popular images and were often chosen to appear on magazines covers in Israel and abroad as a symbol for the new young Hebrew generation.