Day 473 of 599 of מלחמת העצמאות MILḤEMET HAʾAẒMAʾUT (War of Independence)

אהרן חוטר־ישי AHARON HOTER-YIŜAI reported findings to דוד בן־Gurion DAVID BEN rejecting a basis for accusing מאיר טוביאנסקי MEʾIR TOBIANSKI of espionage. The inquiry study quotes the Hebrew diary and distinguishes careless speech from serving the enemy. This is the receipt of findings, not the execution date or a recovered formal public rehabilitation decree.¹

A General Staff meeting considered a mixed civilian and military committee for discharges and the dismantling of ten battalions, potentially releasing about 10,000 personnel including services. Planning was necessary to return soldiers to civilian life while preserving defense. The diary does not establish that all 10,000 were discharged on March 16.²

PAL/461 circulated an unofficial English translation of the Arab League’s March 13 complaint. PAL/462 circulated the Kingdom of Iraq’s earlier March 5 letter. The Iraqi complaint study distinguishes four reported groups totaling 479 from the partial count of 59. Republication does not create new expulsions, casualties or a second population to add to the March 13 claim.³⁴

The March 18 diary records Shiloah’s account of a March 16 morning capture near Khirbat al-Bira on the Hebron approaches. This is a later report of an earlier military movement; the original operational record, precise identification of the locality and casualty information remain unresolved.⁵

This is the series’ civil-day recap for 1949-03-16, Day 473. The date register and TJD’s fixed-Hebrew conversion assign its daytime portion to ט״ו באדר ה׳תש״ט 15th 𝑜𝑓 Adar, AM 5709; after local sunset the date is ט״ז באדר ה׳תש״ט 16th 𝑜𝑓 Adar, AM 5709. The recap route does not date every incident it describes. The inquiry findings and discharge proposals occur in the March 16 diary. The March 18 diary assigns the Khirbat al-Bira movement to March 16 morning. March 16 UN releases cover earlier letters. ⁶⁷⁸⁹

• Why does a finding of no basis for espionage require attention to accountability?
• How can recirculated complaints create false duplicate counts?