The Non-Jewish Origins of the Uzi

Jews Present Non-Jewish Innovation as their Own

The Uzi is perhaps the iconic weapon of Israel. It was created by Uziel Gal (nee Gotthard Glas) – a member of the jewish terrorist group Palmach - in the late 1940s and soon became standard issue in the Israeli military. (1) As with Krav Maga - the Israeli martial art – (2) the origins story of the Uzi is distinctly odd in large part because the Uzi is claimed to have been invented ex nihilo by Gal during his time in prison following his detention and successful conviction by the British military forces trying to impose some sense of law and order onto Palestine at the time.

A great example of the nature of this ex nihilo origins narrative in regards to the Uzi can be found in the recent article on Uziel Gal by Nati Gabbay that was published by the Times to Israel.

To wit:

‘When Glas joined the Palmach fighting force of the prestate Yishuv, he found the perfect occupation: Weapons development and weapons engraving. Just as in his school days, he was caught once again – and sentenced by the British to seven years in prison. To his joy, he was pardoned after just over two years in Acre Prison. Guess what he did to pass the time in jail: He designed a submachine gun.’ (3)

In this there is no mention of any other influences. Gal was in prison and he put his time to good use and created the Uzi submachine gun as a direct result.

Unpacking this narrative is relatively easy if we but consider the facts presented to us.

They are:

(A) Gal joined a known terrorist group that used guns to murder its enemies.

(B) Gal is imprisoned for being part of that group.

(C) Gal designs a gun during his time in prison.

So in other words; there must be some kind of influence there, because Gal hasn’t come into this fresh and he’s seen (and used) guns created by other people himself.

Now when he comes out of prison in the late 1940s he begins promoting his new gun – the first prototypes of which were submitted in 1950 to the Israeli military – (4) but he doesn’t credit any other design as being an inspiration for his own.

Unsurprisingly there is a gun that looks suspiciously like an Uzi and has all the same features; in the form of the Czech Sa 25 (vz. 48b) that was first produced in 1948. (5)

Compare them for yourself:

Czech Sa 25 (vz. 48b)

Israeli Uzi

The Uzi looks like a slightly chunkier version of the Sa 25 (vz. 48b): doesn’t it?

When we note that the guns are – in terms of functionality – more or less identical. and that the Czech government supplied Israel with weapons between 1947-1949 despite no Sa 25 (vz. 48b)’s officially being sent (6) although some many have been seen/examined by an active Palmach terrorist like Gal. Then it suggests that the Gal didn’t in fact ‘invent’ the Uzi at all, because all he did was to remodel and refine the Czech Sa 25 (vz. 48b) design to make the gun look different enough to ensure that his fraud wasn’t readily detectable.

Why has the fraudulent narrative of the ex nihilo creation of the Uzi by Gal been kept up all these years?

Simple: without it then the myth that the iconic Israeli weapon – the Uzi – was created by jewish ingenuity would suffer a body blow as would arguments about the ‘jewish contribution to civilization’ – to quote Cecil Roth – because jews weren’t even able to create their own gun without stealing someone else’s design and pretending it was all their own work.

References

(1) http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/uzi-started-out-as-a-boy-who-played-with-guns/

(2) See my article: S

(3) http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/uzi-started-out-as-a-boy-who-played-with-guns/

(4) https://www.uzi.com/history/

(5) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sa_vz._23#Design

(6) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_shipments_from_Czechoslovakia_to_Israel_1947%E2%80%931949