Late last month, Paulette (Pnina) Pinhasi passed away at the age of 97. After surviving the Holocaust in hiding in France, she immigrated to Israel on an illegal immigrant ship.
In 1947, she joined the Palyam, the naval arm of the Palmach, after completing a boat-handling course and a medic’s course.
In 1948, Yosele Dror, founder of Israel’s combat diving unit, invited her to join a force then under the Mossad, tasked with sabotaging Arab weapons shipments. She accepted, becoming the only woman among the male fighters.
Pnina took part in the first naval sabotage course, training in demolition, intelligence, seamanship, navigation, hand-to-hand combat, and long-distance swimming and diving.