Tzvi Tzur was an
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
i soldier who served as the
IDFThe Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are Israel's military forces, comprising the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
's 6th
Chief of StaffThe Chief of General Staff is the supreme commander and Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. The Chief of Staff is the only active Israeli officer with the rank of Rav Aluf at any given time...
.
Tzur was born in the Zaslav in the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
(now
IziaslavIziaslav or Izyaslav is one of the oldest cities in Volhynia. Situated on the Horyn river in the Western Ukraine, the town dates back to the 11th century.-Hotels:...
in
UkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The city of Kiev is both the capital and the largest city of...
) in 1923 as
Czera Czertenko, and made
aliyahAliyah is the immigration of Jews to Eretz Israel. It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology, and a value in almost all movements of Judaism...
to Mandate Palestine at the age of two. In 1936, at the peak of the Arab revolt and the 1936-1939 pogroms he joined the
HaganahHaganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
in order to help protect the
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
s from Arab rioters.
With the outbreak of
1948 Arab-Israeli WarThe 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known by Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation and by Palestinians as the Catastrophe , was the first in a series of wars fought between the newly declared State of Israel and its Arab neighbours in the long-running Arab-Israeli conflict.The war...
, Tzur was appointed battalion leader in the
Givati BrigadeThe Givati Brigade functions as the amphibious force and is one of the infantry brigades in the Israel Defense Forces. Givati soldiers are designated by purple berets...
, and participated in
Operation PleshetOperation Pleshet , named for the geographical region where it took place, was an Israeli military operation during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. It was carried out from May 29 to June 3, 1948, in the Isdud/Ad Halom area of the southern front, against the Egyptian Army...
, among others.
Tzvi Tzur was an
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
i soldier who served as the
IDFThe Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are Israel's military forces, comprising the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
's 6th
Chief of StaffThe Chief of General Staff is the supreme commander and Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. The Chief of Staff is the only active Israeli officer with the rank of Rav Aluf at any given time...
.
Early life
Tzur was born in the Zaslav in the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
(now
IziaslavIziaslav or Izyaslav is one of the oldest cities in Volhynia. Situated on the Horyn river in the Western Ukraine, the town dates back to the 11th century.-Hotels:...
in
UkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The city of Kiev is both the capital and the largest city of...
) in 1923 as
Czera Czertenko, and made
aliyahAliyah is the immigration of Jews to Eretz Israel. It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology, and a value in almost all movements of Judaism...
to Mandate Palestine at the age of two. In 1936, at the peak of the Arab revolt and the 1936-1939 pogroms he joined the
HaganahHaganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
in order to help protect the
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
s from Arab rioters.
Military career
With the outbreak of
1948 Arab-Israeli WarThe 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known by Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation and by Palestinians as the Catastrophe , was the first in a series of wars fought between the newly declared State of Israel and its Arab neighbours in the long-running Arab-Israeli conflict.The war...
, Tzur was appointed battalion leader in the
Givati BrigadeThe Givati Brigade functions as the amphibious force and is one of the infantry brigades in the Israel Defense Forces. Givati soldiers are designated by purple berets...
, and participated in
Operation PleshetOperation Pleshet , named for the geographical region where it took place, was an Israeli military operation during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. It was carried out from May 29 to June 3, 1948, in the Isdud/Ad Halom area of the southern front, against the Egyptian Army...
, among others. Tzur was the founder of the fast jeep reconnaissance company,
Samson's FoxesSamson's Foxes was an Israeli commando unit during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It was part of the 54th Battalion in the Givati Brigade....
, which fought on the southern front. After the end of the war, he undertook organizing roles and went to study manpower management in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
In 1956 he was promoted to the rank of Major General and was appointed as the commander of the central front. In 1958 he was appointed as deputy chief of staff and went for long period of study in
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
. He returned on September 1960. The following year he replaced Haim Laskov as the IDF chief of staff.
Chief of Staff
In January 1961 Tzur was appointed as the IDF Chief of Staff. One of his first actions was to appoint Major General
Yitzhak Rabin' was an Israeli politician and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995. In 1994, Rabin won the Nobel Peace Prize together with Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat...
as his deputy. Tzur's term was relatively quiet, except for border incidents with
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
, which shelled Israeli villages from the
Golan HeightsThe Golan Heights is a strategic plateau and mountainous region at the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains and remains a highly contested land straddling the borders of Syria and Israel. Two-thirds of the area is currently governed by Israel...
. The biggest IDF operation during Tzur's term was held on 16 March 1962, when the
Golani BrigadeThe Golani Brigade is an Israeli infantry brigade which was formed on February 22, 1948 when the Levanoni Brigade in the Galilee split into the 1st Golani Brigade and the 2nd Carmeli Brigade...
raided Syrian outposts to the north of the
Sea of GalileeThe Sea of Galilee, also Lake of Gennesaret, Lake Kinneret or Sea of Tiberias , is the largest freshwater lake in Israel, being approximately 53 km in circumference, about 21 km long, and 13 km wide. The lake has a total area of 166 km², and a maximum depth of approximately...
in order to stop Syrian shelling. Seven Israeli soldiers and thirty Syrian soldiers were killed during the battle. However, the shelling was not stopped in the area and on 19 August 1963, Syrian forces murdered two civilians in
AlmagorAlmagor is a moshav in northern Israel. Located to the north of the Sea of Galilee, it falls under the jurisdiction of Emek HaYarden Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 224....
.
Tzur sought to draw quality manpower to the IDF and decided in June 1961 to provide officers with a private car for their personal usage. The model chosen was a
CitroënCitroën is a French automobile manufacturer. Founded in 1919 by André Citroën, it was the world's first mass-production car company outside of the USA. Since 1976 it has been part of PSA Peugeot Citroën, and its headquarters is on rue Fructidor, Paris...
2CVThe Citroën 2CV was an economy car produced by the French automaker Citroën from 1949 to 1990. It was technologically advanced and innovative, but with extremely utilitarian and deceptively simple Bauhaus inspired bodywork, that belied the sheer quality of its underlying engineering...
.
Tzur also prepared the IDF for a war with the Arab armies and built up the defense forces so that it could stop Arab attacks. In August 1961, the president of
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
, Gamal Abdul Nasser, revealed that Israel had obtained
Dassault Mirage IIIThe Mirage III is a supersonic fighter aircraft designed in France by Dassault Aviation during the late 1950s, and manufactured both in France and a number of other countries. It was a successful fighter aircraft, being sold to many air forces around the world and remaining in production for over a...
jet fighters in order to counter Egyptian Soviet-made MiG-19s. The Mirages proven themselves very well and served as the
Israeli Air ForceThe Israeli Air Force is the air force of the Israel Defense Forces...
's main fighter for many years. The Mirages contributed substantially to Israel's victory in the
Six-Day WarThe Six-Day War of June 5-10, 1967 was a war between the Israel army and the armies of the neighboring states of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. The Arab states of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria also contributed troops and arms. At the war's end, Israel had gained control of the...
and the elimination of the combined Arab airpower of Egypt, Syria and
JordanJordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in Western Asia spanning the southern part of the Syrian Desert down to the Gulf of Aqaba. Jordan shares borders with Syria to the north, Iraq to the northeast, Saudi Arabia to the east and south, the Gulf of Aqaba to the southwest,...
, as did other two notable acquisitions by Tzur, the
Centurion tankThe Centurion was the primary British main battle tank of the post World War II period, and was a successful tank design, with upgrades, for many decades. The chassis was also adapted for several other roles....
s and
MIM-23 HawkThe Raytheon MIM-23 HAWK is an American medium range surface-to-air missile. As a backronym, some consider HAWK to stand for Homing All the Way Killer. The HAWK was initially designed to destroy aircraft and was later adapted to destroy other missiles in flight. The missile entered service in 1960,...
surface-to-air missileA Surface to Air Missile or ground-to-air missile is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft. It is a type of anti-aircraft system....
technology.
Tzur retired from duty in December 1963.
Civlian and political career
After his retirement Tzur was appointed as the general manager of
MekorotMekorot is Israel's national water company. It was founded in 1937. It supplies 90% of Israel's drinking water and 80% of its water supplies....
, Israel's national water company. Under pressure from
Moshe DayanMoshe Dayan, was an Israeli military leader and politician. The fourth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces , he became a fighting symbol to the world of the new State of Israel...
to enter the political fray, in the
1965 electionsElections for the sixth Knesset were held in Israel on 1 November 1965. Voter turnout was 80.4%.-Results:¹ Rafi and Mapam joined the Alignment, though David Ben Gurion of Rafi disagreed with the merger and remained a single MK...
he was elected to the
KnessetThe Knesset is the legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Operation of the Knesset:...
on the Rafi list,
David Ben-Gurion' was the first Prime Minister of Israel. Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, culminated in his instrumental role in the founding of the state of Israel...
's party. However, he resigned from the Knesset after just a month, and was replaced by
Amos DeganiAmos Degani is a former Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset between 1957 and 1969.-Biography:Born in Tel Aviv during the Mandate era, Degani was a member of HaNoar HaOved duringn his youth, becoming a member of its secretariat in 1942...
, before returning to work in Mekorot.
With the appointment of Dayan as
Minister of DefenseThe Defense Minister of Israel is head of the Ministry of Defense in Israel. The post is considered to be the second most important position in the Israeli cabinet, and usually has a Deputy Minister. The Defense Minister is also a permanent member of the Security Cabinet...
in May 1967, Tzur was asked to assist Dayan and served as an adviser to the Minister of Defense for seven years.
After that, Tzur served at several managing positions, including the Israeli Aircraft Industries, the shipping company
ZimZim Integrated Shipping Services , formerly Zim American Israeli Shipping and ZIM Israel Navigation Company, is the biggest cargo shipping company in Israel, and 13th largest in the world...
, and "Hevra LeYsrael".
Tzur was active in public affairs until his last days, and on 29 April 2004 he signed a letter of support in
Ariel Sharon' is an Israeli general and statesman, former Israeli Prime Minister...
's
disengament planIsrael's unilateral disengagement plan , also known as the "Disengagement plan", "Gaza expulsion plan", and "Hitnatkut") was a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, adopted by the government on June 6, 2004 and enacted in August 2005, to evict...
. He died in December that year.
External links