Tzvi Tzur ( he, צבי צור, also transliterated Zvi Tsur, 1923 – 28 December 2004) was an Israeli officer who served as the
IDF
IDF or idf may refer to:
Defence forces
* Irish Defence Forces
* Israel Defense Forces
*Iceland Defense Force, of the US Armed Forces, 1951-2006
* Indian Defence Force, a part-time force, 1917
Organizations
* Israeli Diving Federation
* Interac ...
's 6th
Chief of Staff (1961–1963).
Biography
Early life
Tzur was born in the
Zaslav in the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
(now
Iziaslav in
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
) in 1923, as Tsvi Tsera Tsertenko, and made
Aliyah to
Mandatory Palestine
Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...
at the age of two. In 1936, at the peak of the
Arab revolt
The Arab Revolt ( ar, الثورة العربية, ) or the Great Arab Revolt ( ar, الثورة العربية الكبرى, ) was a military uprising of Arab forces against the Ottoman Empire in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I. On ...
and the 1936–1939 pogroms he joined the
Haganah in order to help protect the
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
s from Arab rioters.
Military career
With the outbreak of the
1948 Arab-Israeli War, Tzur was appointed battalion leader in the
Givati Brigade, and participated in
Operation Pleshet
Operation Pleshet ( he, מִבְצָע פְּלֶשֶׁת, ''Mivtza Pleshet'', lit. "Operation Philistia"), named after the geographical region where it took place, was an Israeli military operation during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. It was car ...
, among others. Tzur was the founder of the fast jeep reconnaissance company,
Samson's Foxes
Samson's Foxes ( he, שועלי שמשון, ''Shu'alei Shimshon'') was an Israeli commando unit of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. It was part of the 54th Battalion (commanded by Zvi Zur) of the Givati Brigade. The unit participated in various bat ...
, 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 States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
.
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
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
. He returned in September 1960. The following year he replaced
Haim Laskov
Haim Laskov ( he, חיים לסקוב; born 1919, Barysaw, Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic – 8 December 1982) was an Israeli public figure and the fifth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces.
Biography
Haim Laskov was born in Ba ...
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
Yitzhak Rabin (; he, יִצְחָק רַבִּין, ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77, and from 1992 until h ...
as his deputy. Tzur's term was relatively quiet, except for border incidents with
Syria, which shelled Israeli villages from the
Golan Heights
The Golan Heights ( ar, هَضْبَةُ الْجَوْلَانِ, Haḍbatu l-Jawlān or ; he, רמת הגולן, ), or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant spanning about . The region defined as the Golan Heights differs between di ...
. The biggest IDF operation during Tzur's term, named Operation Swallow, was held
on 16 March 1962, when the
Golani Brigade raided Syrian outposts to the north of the
Sea of Galilee 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
Almagor
Almagor ( he, אַלְמָגוֹר) is a moshav in northern Israel. Located in the Korazim Plateau, to the north of the Sea of Galilee, it falls under the jurisdiction of Emek HaYarden Regional Council. In it had a population of .
The village ...
.
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
Citroën 2CV
The Citroën 2CV (french: link=no, deux chevaux(-vapeur), , lit. "two steam horse(power)s", meaning "two ''taxable'' horsepower") is an air-cooled front-engine, front-wheel-drive, economy family car, introduced at the 1948 Paris Mondial d ...
.
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
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
,
Gamal Abdul Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...
, revealed that Israel had obtained
Dassault Mirage III
The Dassault Mirage III () is a family of single/dual-seat, single-engine, fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by French aircraft company Dassault Aviation. It was the first Western European combat aircraft to exceed Mach number, Mach 2 ...
jet fighters in order to counter Egyptian Soviet-made
MiG-19
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-19; NATO reporting name: Farmer) is a Soviet second generation, single-seat, twinjet fighter aircraft, the world's first mass-produced supersonic aircraft. It was the ...
s. The Mirages proven themselves very well and served as the
Israeli Air Force
The Israeli Air Force (IAF; he, זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל, Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal, tl, "Air and Space Arm", commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial warfare branch of the Israel Defens ...
's main fighter for many years. The Mirages contributed substantially to Israel's victory in the
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) from 5 to 10 Ju ...
and the elimination of the combined Arab airpower of Egypt, Syria and
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
, as did other two notable acquisitions by Tzur, the
Centurion tanks and
MIM-23 Hawk surface-to-air missile technology.
Tzur retired from his position as Chief of Staff and from military duty at the end of December 1963.
Civilian and political career
After his retirement Tzur was appointed as the general manager of
Mekorot
Mekorot ( he, מקורות, lit. "Sources") is the national water company of Israel and the country's top agency for water management. Founded in 1937, it supplies Israel with 90% of its drinking water and operates a cross-country water supply ne ...
, Israel's national water company. Under pressure from
Moshe Dayan to enter the political fray, in the
1965 elections he was elected to the
Knesset
The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...
on the
Rafi list,
David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion ( ; he, דָּוִד בֶּן-גּוּרִיּוֹן ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary national founder of the State of Israel and the first prime minister of Israel. Adopting the nam ...
's party. However, he resigned from the Knesset after just a month, and was replaced by
Amos Degani,
Knesset Members of the Sixth Knesset
Knesset website before returning to work in Mekorot.
With the appointment of Dayan as Minister of Defense 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
Israel Aerospace Industries (Hebrew: התעשייה האווירית לישראל ''ha-ta'asiya ha-avirit le-yisra'el'') or IAI (תע"א) is Israel's major aerospace and aviation manufacturer, producing aerial and astronautic systems for both mi ...
, the shipping company Zim, and "Hevra LeYsrael".
Tzur was active in public affairs until his last days, and on 29 April 2004 he signed a letter in support of Ariel Sharon's disengament plan. He died in December that year.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tzur, Tzvi
1923 births
2004 deaths
Soviet Jews
People from Izyaslav
Soviet emigrants to Mandatory Palestine
Jews in Mandatory Palestine
Haganah members
British Army personnel of World War II
Members of the 6th Knesset (1965–1969)
Israeli civil servants
Rafi (political party) politicians
Burials at Kiryat Shaul Cemetery