Wow! Now this is an extremely rare and certainly one of a kind, fully automatic original Ishevsk production AK47 that was presented to General Earle G. Wheeler from Major General Y. Rabin, then Commander in Chief of all the Israeli Defense Forces. The left side of the buttstock has a small brass plate attached that reads: "TO/GENERAL EARLE G. WHEELER/FROM/MAJ. GEN. Y. RABIN/CHIEF OF GENERAL STAFF/ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES/DEC. 1967". This beautiful assault rifle was probably captured and then presented to General Wheeler in Dec 1967, after the Six Day war between Egypt and the State of Israel. The weapon itself needs no lengthy introduction, as we all know the history and back ground of this superb rifle, the Avtomat Kalashnikova 47, or just the AK47. It was developed in 1945, by Mikhail Kalashnikov, and was eventually adopted by the Soviet Union in 1947. Kalashnikov was an engineer and designer who eventually rose to the rank of General in the Russian Army. Yitzhak Rabin was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel. He originally joined the newly formed Israeli Defense Forces in late 1948 and was taken under Moshe Dayan's wing. He continued to rise as a promising officer and eventually took part in the Arab-Israeli War in 1948. He helped shape the training doctrine of the IDF in the early 1950s, and led the IDF's Operations Directorate from 1959 to 1963. He was appointed Chief of the General Staff in 1964 and oversaw Israel's victory in the 1967 Six-Day War. He served two terms in office, as Prime Minister, 1974-77 and again in 1992 until he was assassinated in 1995. General Earle Wheeler graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1932 and was commissioned into the infantry. He served in the 29th Infantry Regiment from 1932 to 1936, then attended Infantry School in 1937. He served with the 15th Infantry Regiment, from 1937 to 1940, stationed in China from 1937 to 1938. In 1955 he was assigned to the General Staff at The Pentagon and in 1958 he took command of the 2nd Armored Division. He became the Director of the Joint Staff in 1960. In 1962 he was briefly assigned as the Deputy Commander of U.S. Forces in Europe before being appointed as the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, where he over saw much of the Vietnam War. He retired in 1970 and died in 1975. This weapon is absolutely like new and unfired. It has all matching numbers, with a late black painted type metal finish with the complete bolt assembly, still in the white. It is fitted with a set of late production all laminated handguards, pistol grip, and buttstock. It has the correct early style all milled receiver with the smooth top cover, open top front sight. As noted it has all matching serial numbers and correct Russian proof marks on all the parts and laminated/wood components. It is complete with an original ink stamped Russian AK47 tan web sling. Magazine absent.