The Medal of Courage ( he, עיטור העוז, ''Itur HaOz'') is an Israeli military decoration. The medal is awarded for carrying out acts of gallantry at the risk of life, during combat duty. The medal was established in 1970 (though it has been given retroactively) by act of law in 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 (wit ...

Design

The medal was designed by Dan Reisinger, on the obverse there are six crossed swords and between them an olive branch. the reverse is the same. The medal is attached to a red ribbon symbolizing the fire and blood in battle. Officially, two time recipients of the medal wear a small clasp in the form of the medal on its ribbon. In practice,

Rav Aluf ''Aluf'' ( he, אלוף, lit=champion or "First\leader of a group" in Biblical Hebrew; ) is a senior military rank in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) for officers who in other countries would have the rank of general, air marshal, or admiral. ...

Amnon Lipkin-Shahak Amnon Lipkin-Shahak ( he, אמנון ליפקין-שחק; March 18, 1944 – December 19, 2012) was an Israeli military officer and politician. He served as Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, as a Member of the Knesset, and as Minister ...

(the only person to be awarded the medal twice whilst still alive) wore two ribbons. The medal is minted by the Israel Government Coins and Medals Corporation, is made of 25 gram silver/935 and the clasp is chrome plated metal.

Recipients

To this day 220 awards have been made, the latest were in 2005 after a period of 23 years in which the medal was not awarded. In 2007 it was announced that the medal would be awarded to six soldiers who fought during the Second Lebanon War. Two recipients have been awarded the medal twice.

Notable recipients

is a double recipient. *

Meir Dagan Aluf (Major General) Meir Dagan ( he, מאיר דגן; 30 January 1945 – 17 March 2016) was an Israel Defense Forces Major General (reserve) and Director of the Mossad. Personal life and education Meir Huberman (later Dagan) was born on a ...

received the medal for his disarming a terrorist in 1971. *

Meir Har-Zion Meir Har-Zion ( he, מאיר הר ציון; February 25, 1934 – March 14, 2014) was an Israeli military Commando (military), commando. As a key member of Unit 101, he was highly praised by Chief of Staff Moshe Dayan who described him as "the fi ...

received the medal for his conduct a

Paratroopers A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachute into a military operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne force. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during Worl ...

company commander during a raid in 1956. * Oved Ladishinsky was a double recipient. *

Rafael Eitan Rafael "Raful" Eitan ( he, רפאל "רפול" איתן, born 11 January 1929 – 23 November 2004) was an Israeli general, former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (Ramatkal) and later a politician, a Knesset member, and government ...

received the medal for his conduct during a raid to

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

in 1955. * Roi Klein was posthumously awarded the medal for jumping on a grenade to save his fellow soldiers during the Second Lebanon War. *

Shmuel Gonen Shmuel "Gorodish" Gonen ( he, שמואל גונן; 1930 – 30 September 1991) was an Israeli general and Chief of the Southern Command of the Israel Defense Forces during the Yom Kippur War. Early life Born in Vilna, Poland, Gonen immigrate ...

received the medal for his conduct during the

Sinai War The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 W ...

. *

Amir Drori Amir Drori ( he, אמיר דרורי; 1937–2005) was an Israeli general, founder and the first director general of the Israel Antiquities Authority. Military career Amir Drori was born in Tel Aviv in 1937 and graduated from the IDF's Junior Com ...

was awarded the medal for his conduct during Operation "Hargol" (also known as Tawfiq raid) in 1960. *

Yitzhak Mordechai Yitzhak "Itzik" Mordechai ( he, יצחק מרדכי, born 22 November 1944) is an Israeli former general and politician. He served as a member of the Knesset between 1996 and 2001, and as Minister of Defense and Minister of Transport. He retire ...

received the medal for his conduct during the

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by E ...

. * Yossi Ben Hanan received the medal for his conduct during the Yom Kippur War. *

Dov Tamari Dov Tamari (29 April 1911 – 11 August 2006), born Bernhard Teitler, was a mathematician. Born in Fulda, Germany, he left for the British Mandate for Palestine in 1933. He was known for his work in logic and combinatorics, and the Tamari latti ...

received the medal for his conduct as a paratrooper platoon leader during a raid in 1956. * Paul Provda received the medal in 1965 for his conduct in battle (Levy Incident) for retrieving the body of a fellow member of the 601 (Levy) who had been killed while in his tractor plowing the border between Israel, Syria and Lebanon. Provda retrieved the body under heavy fire from enemies despite having sustained a serious injury.

References

* John D. Clarke, ''Gallantry Medals & Awards of the World'', pp. 108–109 Military awards and decorations of Israel Courage awards