The NILI was a small Jewish espionage organization established in 1915 that passed information to the British, assisting them in ousting the Ottoman Empire from the land of Israel.

Due to the cruel and oppressive manner in which the Ottomans ruled Palestine, Aaron Aaronsohn, his sister Sarah, and their friends Avshalom Feinberg and Yosef Lishansky established the NILI, a Hebrew acronym for Netzach Yisrael Lo Yishaker (lit. The Eternity (God) of Israel Will Not Lie).

In order to make contact with British Naval Intelligence, Feinberg traveled to Egypt – on foot, in 1915. Two years later, Feinberg again set out with another agent named Lishansky to Egypt. On January 20, 1917, Feinberg was murdered by marauding Bedouins in the Sinai.

Lishansky was badly injured, but managed to escape. Later he was caught and publicly hung by the Turks. In 1917, one of the Nili's carrier pigeons was intercepted by the Turks, and Zichron Ya'kov, the city in which the NILI was operating, was soon besieged.

Sarah Aaronsohn was captured and tortured for days, but did not divulge any of the organization’s secrets. On the fourth day, she shot herself with a weapon she had concealed, not wanting to risk divulging any information that would incriminate her friends. She passed away on October 9, 1917.

Aaron Aaronsohn was relaying information to the British in Egypt at the time of the discovery, and remained there until the Turks were defeated.

One of the most known pieces of information passed on by the NILI helped General Allenby's forces to surpass Turkish forces in Gaza and arrive at Beersheva where they launched a surprise attack and defeated the Turks.

After Israel conquered the Sinai in Six Day War, an old Bedouin led soldiers to a place that they called Kabir Yehudi (the Jew’s grave). There, Avshalom's remains were discovered under a lone palm tree in the middle of the desert that sprung from the date seeds he had in his pocket.

His body was returned to Israel and buried in Mount Herzl National Cemetery.