A month before the establishment of the State of Israel, a convoy of doctors and nurses set out from the heart of Jerusalem, heading to Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus—an isolated Israeli enclave surrounded by Jordanian-controlled territory. Their mission was to deliver medical supplies and replace the team stationed there.
But as the convoy passed through the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, it came under heavy fire. British forces stood by for hours without intervening, while a frenzied mob ran wild. Seventy-eight people—doctors, nurses, and drivers—were savagely murdered. Some of the bodies were never recovered. The event went down in history as the Hadassah Convoy Massacre.
Smuggling weapons in armored vehicles
Two weeks after the declaration of independence, the Jewish Quarter fell. Synagogues were blown up, and the Jewish residents were expelled. Only one area remained under Israeli control—Mount Scopus. But the armistice agreements barred Israel from placing military forces or weapons there.
For 19 years, the mountain stood isolated, cut off from the rest of Jerusalem—until the Six-Day War changed the course of history.
What remained unknown at the time was revealed only much later: a covert unit called “Matzof 247” had been operating on Mount Scopus the entire time, disguised as police officers and administrative staff. They smuggled weapons hidden inside armored vehicles, concealed themselves behind double seats, called themselves “The King’s Boys” and their commander “The King of the Mountain,” and managed to maintain observation posts and preserve an Israeli presence—against all odds.
An intelligence legend
The unit, which became a legend in Israeli intelligence circles, was prepared for the day fighting would break out—and when it did in 1967, they responded with precise, independent fire. Rare testimonies from veterans reveal the full story: from the death convoy to the symbolic lighting of a Hanukkah menorah on the roof of the Rosenblum Building, a small sign of hope in the heart of a long siege.
In the end, when the paratroopers broke through to the Old City, it was the men of Matzof—the successors of the Hadassah convoy—who kept the gate open. Nineteen years of waiting came to an end, and the mountain returned to the people of Israel.
