2025-07-28 11:54 <br/> Tags: #people #EarlyZionism #AmericanJewry ![[yitzhak ben ami photo.png|259x389]] # Yitzhak Ben-Ami (1913-1984) - Yitzhak Ben-Ami was an [[Irgun and Lehi Zionist Paramilitary Organizations|Irgun]] activist and representative in the United States in the late 1930s and 40s. - Ben-Ami joined [[Ze'ev Jabotinsky]]'s [[Revisionist Zionism|Revisionist]] youth movement [[Betar]] in 1932. - Ben-Ami accompanied [[Ze'ev Jabotinsky]] and [[Hillel Kook]] when they came to the United States in 1940 for the purpose of Irgun promotion and lobbying. - Upon Jabotinsky's death in 1940, Ben-Ami with [[Hillel Kook]] assumed the primary Irgun activities within the United States. - Ben-Ami was a key member of [[Hillel Kook]]'s [[Bergson Group]]. - The group covertly operated the Irgun US network. - Ben-Ami was the force behind a number of Irgun front organizations including: - [[Committee for a Jewish Army of Stateless and Palestinian Jews]] - [[American League for a Free Palestine (ALFP)]] - [[Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe]] - [[American Friends of a Jewish Palestine (AFJP)]] - Ben-Ami worked in the US on behalf of [[Menachem Begin]]'s [[Herut]] Revisionist party in the late 40s. - Ben-Ami was on board the [[Altalena Affair|Altalena]] as it infamously arrived in Palestine in June 1948 during the first ceasefire of the [[1948 Arab Israeli War]]. - Ben-Ami went to work for Phillip Brothers, a Jewish commodities trading company based in New York. - Phillip Brothers was the largest commodities trading company for much of the 20th century. - The company operated as essentially an exclusive Jewish 'club.' - Prolific oil and commodities trader [[Marc Rich]] was at Phillip Brothers at the same time as Ben-Ami (50s-70s). - Yitzhak Ben-Ami is the father of [[J Street]] founder [[Jeremy Ben-Ami]]. #### References - **“Hillel Kook.”** _Wikipedia_. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillel_Kook](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillel_Kook). - _“Yitshaq Ben-Ami, 71; Zionist Active in U.S.”_ _The New York Times_, January 3, 1985. - Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “Yitzhak Ben Ami Dead at 71.” _Jewish Telegraphic Agency_, January 4, 1985. [https://www.jta.org/archive/yitzhak-ben-ami-dead-at-71](https://www.jta.org/archive/yitzhak-ben-ami-dead-at-71). - Ben-Ami, Yitshaq. n.d. _Encyclopedia of America’s Response to the Holocaust._ [https://enc.wymaninstitute.org/?p=64](https://enc.wymaninstitute.org/?p=64). - Rose, Alex. “A Man and His Wayward Son.” _The Times of Israel_ (blog), August 24, 2017. Accessed August 17, 2025. [https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-man-and-his-wayward-son/](https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-man-and-his-wayward-son/).