Mahal (Israel)
Foreign volunteers who fought for Israel during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Machal?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
SHOW ALL QUESTIONS
Not to be confused with מחל, the identically pronounced election symbol of Likud, a major political party in Israel..
Mahal, more often spelled Machal (Hebrew: מח"ל), refers to the group of overseas volunteers who fought alongside Israeli forces during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Some 4,000 volunteers, mostly Jews but also non-Jews, arrived from all over the world.[1][2] Mahal is an acronym of מתנדבי חוץ לארץ (Mitnadvei Hutz LaAretz, "volunteers from abroad").
Mahal was disbanded after the war and most of the volunteers went home, although some remained in the country as permanent residents.