Pictured: Yirmiyahu Halperin, a leading authority in the Betar Naval Academy.

Quoting Lenni Brenner’s 51 Documents: Zionist collaboration with the Nazis, page 162:

An Italian Revisionist magazine would be past human for saintliness if it heeded any scrupple of their Rosh Betar (High Betar) about the closeness of the two movements: “Giovinezza,” the Fascist Party’s lyrical anthem, “was sung with much enthusiasm by the Betarim” at the opening of their squadron at Mussolini’s maritime academy. Indeed, Revisionist members of the Blackshirts’ University Fascist Youth, were among the founding cadre of the future Israeli navy.—LB

Pages 163–4:

The […] similarity between the Hebrew national revival and the Italian is not without significance.

The speaker remembers that while Europe’s better known politicians were ambiguous about the possibility of Italian unity, a Jew, Moses Hess, almost a century ago, in his “Rome and Jerusalem,” predicted that the revival of Rome would contain within it the revival of Jerusalem.

Italy preceded Israel in obtaining independence. This was in the order of things. And today she has much to teach the Jewish people. It is here that our young men are coming to learn the maritime arts. They will have to live a hard life, a life of sacrifice. As the High Betar says, in a letter to the speaker, our youth will have to spend 10 years, their engineering diplomas in pocket, as simple sailors. But in that time the Hebrew merchant marine will be created.

The thought spontaneously occurs that in some very near future, it will be possible for the Hebrew merchant marine to reciprocate the cordial hospitality and the honor that today Italy is bestowing upon the Jewish people by welcoming its young men into this school.

The Jewish people will not forget Civitavecchia. It will remember Italy with gratitude. It will remember Col. Fiore’s constant aid in the hard work of laying the foundation for a Hebrew fleet, it will remember the work of Captain Fusco, who created this first base, and for whom the seriousness of his work, and his skill, have won him, not only the esteem, but also the friendship of the Rosh Betar.

The speaker concluded by turning his thoughts to Italy, to its head of government who, lighting the King’s victorious reign, showed us the destiny of Italy, whose guidance bears signs of great Italy’s valor and civilization. One thinks of the purity expressed by the Rosh Betar, chief and father of the new Hebrew youth.

Page 165:

The order—“Attention!” A triple chant ordered by the squads commanding officer—“Viva L’ltalia! Viva IL Re! Viva IL Duce!” resounded, followed by the benediction which Rabbi Aldo Lattes invoked in Italian and in Hebrew for God, for the King and for IL Duce, followed by a prayer for the Rosh Betar.

Remembering with suitable words, with this act he consecrated the naval school, making it not only a home, but also a temple, he blesses the Sefer Torah which has just been put back into the lovely Aron Ha Codesh, together with the necessary mezuzah for the school, gifts from Signore Amadio Fatucci of Rome.

“Giovinezza” was sung with much enthusiasm by the Betarim, still somewhat awkward with the Italian language. (The majority have been in Italy for no more than two months, others for much less time, and some even for a few days only), and the singing of “Besciuv Adonai,” the official Betar hymn, close the ceremony.

Page 166:

Some visitors, new to this thing, wish to know the significance of the school within the complexity of the Jewish national movement. And Professor Sciaky satisfies them, explaining that the basic idea of Zionism is that of normalization of Jewish life and, therefore, the creation of the necessary organs of its development on its own land. Revisionist Zionism, has seen this demand as constructive, and has created, by the way, this school as a branch of the apolitical, athletic and military Betar activities.

Real sacrifices are asked and will be asked of the cadets. They will be the first sailors of the Hebrew navy. Officers will, at first, have to be simple sailors, that is pioneers, as the first agricultural workers in Eretz Israel were pioneers. They will abandon comfort, neglect the careers towards which their completed studies gave them the right to aspire—and all this to bring about the settlement of the Hebrew people, giving them a position which it previously lacked.

Page 167:

Captain Nicola Fusco
To speak of the Jewish navy without citing captain Fusco’s name would be the greatest absurdity. It is only to him, this tall, slim and always affable Italian captain that we owe so much. He, he alone, is the one who built, created and brought to such a dazzling result, the world’s first Hebrew maritime school.

This is his work, his pride and joy.

Page 168:

He admires Jabotinsky greatly—“don’t shame your Mr. Jabotinsky, a man blessed by God,” he says, to scold us.

All the pupils love him.

Page 169:

Our human material is extremely intelligent. The majority are university students and 30 of them belong to the G(ioventu) U(niversitaria) F(ascista), (University Fascist Youth—LB).

(Emphasis added in most cases.)

Further reading: Eran Kaplan’s The Jewish Radical Right: Revisionist Zionism and Its Ideological Legacy, chapter 6.

Events that happened today (October 25):

1891: Karl Elmendorff, Fascist opera conductor, was born.
1895: Arthur Schmidt, Axis commander, stained the world.
1908: Gotthard Handrick, Axis fighter pilot, started his life.
1913: The Butcher of Lyon and later CIA asset, Nikolaus Barbie, disgraced humanity with his presence.
1921: Michael I of Romania, Axis collaborator, blighted the earth.
1927: The Fascist luxury liner SS Principessa Mafalda sunk off Brazil’s coast, taking 314 lives down with it.
1936: Count Nobile Ciano conducted a two‐day visit to the Third Reich, which resulted in the Rome–Berlin Axis Pact. Meanwhile, the Rexist ‘March on Brussels’ ended in failure due to low turnout and rowdiness by those who did show up; the authorities made several hundred arrests including Rexist leader Léon Degrelle when he tried to address his followers (though they soon released him).
1941: Franz Xaver Freiherr von Werra, Axis figher pilot, was killed in action.
1944: Heinrich Himmler ordered a crackdown on the Edelweiss Pirates, a loosely organized youth culture in the Third Reich that assisted army deserters and others in hiding from the Fascists.
1944: The final attempt of the Imperial Japanese Navy to win the war climaxed at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Coincidentally, the Axis lost its last Romanian city, Carei, to the Eastern Allies.
1945: Five decades of Imperial rule in Taiwan formally ended when the Republic of China assumed control. Meanwhile, Robert Ley, head of the ‘German Labour Front’, committed suicide while awaiting trial for war crimes… no comment.
2000: Mochitsura Hashimoto, Axis submarine commander, expired.