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Source: https://www.sajr.co.za/saluting-zan-swartzberg-one-of-the-800-who-fought-for-israel/
Saluting South Africa's 800 Volunteers in Israel's War of Independence
(South African Jewish Report) Tali Feinberg - Zan Swartzberg, 94, was 21 when he became one of 800 South African Mahal volunteers who heeded Israel's call for help after it was surrounded by seven Arab armies determined to obliterate it in 1948. Zan joined the Israeli army and became a radio operator and air gunner in the fledgling Israeli Air Force. More than a quarter of the 3,000 Jewish volunteers from around the world came from South Africa. "I feel so privileged that I played a small part in the birth of a Jewish state," he says.