Day 16 of 599 of מלחמת העצמאות MILḤEMET HAʾAẒMAʾUT (War of Independence)

זלמן וינטר ZALMAN VINTER, nineteen, was ambushed near Ma'ayan Baruch while transporting a child to school. The Ministry of Defense memorial says the child survived. It identifies Vinter's parents as Rachel and Moshe and gives 15 December 1947, 2 Tevet 5708, as his death date. The memorial does not support a claim that he was a Holocaust survivor or the last surviving member of his family.¹

A JTA bulletin published on 16 December reported the killing of a nineteen-year-old settlement policeman named Zalman Wintor near Kfar Giladi. Its spelling and account are not identical to the memorial, but the report establishes that his death was known before 18 December. The Palmach memorial database likewise dates his death to 15 December.²

Later histories place a cart driver's death near Ma'ayan Baruch on 18 December and connect it to the Palmach raid on al-Khisas that night. They may have moved Vinter's death closer to the retaliatory operation or may describe another encounter. No second identified cart-driver victim is established here. Vinter is counted once, on the date supported by his individual memorial; the disputed causal story remains open.³

A fuller source study of this episode is available at Murder of זלמן וינטר ZALMAN VINTER..

On 15 December 1947, David Zvi Pinkas brought דוד בן-גוריון DAVID BEN-GURION a declaration from representatives of הארגון HAʾIRGUN and לח״י LEḤI. According to the diary's edited English translation, they proposed operating under a senior command while retaining a role in armed actions. דוד בן-גוריון DAVID BEN-GURION demanded a commitment to end independent acts or threats of force against יהודים YEHUDIM, Arabs and English Empire personnel before discussing any proposal.⁴

His stated boundary is worth preserving in its source context. The archive translation renders his refusal as:

This is Day 16 of the 599-day civil-date series: 1947-12-15. Its OTD route, 5708-10-02, is the daytime fixed-Hebrew conversion of that civil date, not a claim that every action mentioned here occurred before sunset.⁵ The adjacent Hebrew date after local sunset is 3 Tevet 5708 (5708-10-03). Vinter's official memorial gives 15 December and 2 Tevet; a later account places a similar killing on 18 December, so the identity and event should not be doubled. Ben-Gurion's 15 December diary records a proposed command arrangement, not a completed merger. Newspaper issue dates, dispatch dates and later testimony are kept distinct from occurrence dates.

• Which event or report fixes the date of this day’s main account?
• What record would resolve the most important remaining timing or casualty question?