David Elazar

David Elazar

David Elazar

David Dado Elazar ( Hebrew דוד אלעזר; born in 1925 in Sarajevo , Yugoslavia ; died April 15, 1976 in Israel ), was the ninth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces . He served in this position between 1972 and 1974. After the costly Yom Kippur War , he was forced to resign.

Life

Early years

Elazar was born into a Sephardic family in Yugoslavia . In 1940 he immigrated to what was then Palestine with the children and youth Aliyah program and became a member of Kibbutz Ein Schemer . He soon became a member of the Palmach and fought in many important battles of the Israeli War of Independence , such as the battle for the San Simon Monastery in Jerusalem . He made a rapid military career and served, for example, as commander of the famous HaPortzim battalion (part of the Harel brigade ).

Elazar stayed in the army after the war and after the Suez crisis of 1956 served in the armored forces as deputy commander under Chaim Bar-Lew , whose post he took over in 1961. He remained in this position until 1964 when he was appointed commander of the northern command. During the Six Day War he led the Israeli conquest of the strategically important Golan Heights in just two days of the war.

After the war, Elazar became chief of the operations department of the Israeli General Staff.

Chief of Staff

On January 1, 1972, Elazar was appointed chief of staff. The first few months in this position focused on the fight against terrorism. On May 9, 1972, the hijackers of a Sabena were released as part of a prisoner exchange, but just three weeks later on May 30, Japanese Red Army terrorists killed 25 civilians and injured 71 people at Ben Gurion Airport . On September 5th of the same year Munich was taken hostage , which ended fatally for all Israeli hostages. In response to these attacks, Elazer ordered the largest attack to date on terrorist bases in Syria and Lebanon. Three Syrian planes were shot down and dozens of terrorists were killed in intense artillery fighting. In Operation Spring of Youth ( Hebrew אביב נעורים( Aviw Ne'urim )), which took place on the night of April 9-10 , dozens of other terrorists, including several major terrorist leaders, were liquidated in Beirut by the Israel Defense Forces (Tzahal). He was also responsible for the downing of a Libyan plane that was in Israeli airspace without identifying itself and did not respond to inquiries. It was later found that the plane had committed a flight error and over 100 civilians were killed.

On May 27, 1973, the Israeli army declared a state of emergency and reservists were called up after the Egyptian troop movements. The state of emergency was later lifted when it was found that it was just an exercise. This event had an important influence on the General Staff, because later in the same year, when the Yom Kippur War took off, it was assumed that the Egyptians were not preparing for war.

On September 13, Israel shot down 13 Syrian fighter jets that tried to shoot down an Israeli plane.

The Yom Kippur War

The events that led to the war

On October 1, 1973, the armies of Egypt and Syria were put on a state of alert. Because of the misinterpretation of military intelligence and poor decisions by the Israeli military, the Tzahal responded with minimal action, few reserve units were called up, and war was found to be unlikely. In the early hours of October 6, Yom Kippur , the Jewish Day of Reconciliation , the most important holiday, Elazar was finally convinced that war would break out on that day, despite the fact that the Chief of Military Reconnaissance, Eli Zeira, and Defense Minister Moshe Dayjan did still considered highly unlikely. Dajan's belief had two main consequences:

1. Dajan refused Elazar's request to comply with the general call-up of the Israeli Reserve (Elazar finally decided to start a partial call-up beginning October 5th).
2. Dajan refused to approve of Elazar's proposal to carry out a first strike by the Air Force. This was scheduled for 11:00 a.m. on Yom Kippur, the air force was ready to strike, but the planes never took off from the ground.

The war

At 2 p.m. on Yom Kippur, the Egyptian and Syrian armies began a coordinated attack on Israel. In many ways, this came as a surprise to the Israeli army.

After a series of fierce skirmishes to stop the invading troops, a failed counter-offensive in Sinai and heavy losses of both the Israeli air and ground forces, the enemy incursion was finally stopped.

On October 11, the fighting had been pushed back across the Syrian border, and on October 16, Israeli troops crossed the Suez Canal under the command of General Ariel Sharon .

In the first days of the war, Elazar was one of the few Israeli commanders who kept a cool head and even displayed an optimistic outlook. Moshe Dajan in particular was later criticized for speaking of the "destruction of the third Israeli state". At the same time, the war revealed deep personal differences among the top echelons of the military, especially on the southern front. Elazar even had to dismiss the commander of the South Command, Major General Shmuel Gonen , and instead replaced the former Chief of Staff Chaim Bar-Lew , his predecessor, in this post. He also appointed the two generals Rehawam Zeewi and Aharon Jariw , who had recently retired from the military, as special advisers.

At the end of the war, the Tzahal had penetrated deep into Syrian territory. Mount Hermon , which the Israelis lost at the beginning of the war, was recaptured. On the southern front, Egypt's 3rd Army was encircled in Sinai, and the Israeli army had been able to cross the Channel thanks to Sharon’s unconventional military tactics. Despite all this, Israel suffered the heaviest losses and faced 100,000 Egyptian soldiers in Sinai. |

The consequences

David Elazar's grave, Jonathan Netanyahu's grave to the left , Herzl-Berg in Jerusalem, National Military Cemetery, Israel

There were public protests in the country over the high casualty rate because Israel was caught unprepared, both in terms of military intelligence and operational planning.

On November 21, the Agranat Commission was set up to clarify why the Tzahal was so poorly prepared for the war. The commission met for several months, held 140 meetings and heard dozens of witnesses before delivering an interim report on April 1, 1974 calling for Elazar to be replaced. The report said that "Elazar had personal responsibility for assessing the situation and the readiness of the Israel Defense Forces." The head of the military reconnaissance, Eli Zeira, should go alongside him.

Elazar submitted his resignation to the government immediately afterwards, claiming that it had been treated unfairly, especially since the report did not include sanctions against the country's political leadership. He also criticized that his actions during the war, which ultimately contributed to Israel's victory, had not been taken into account.

On April 15, 1976, Elazar died of a heart attack while swimming. Many in Israel believed he died of a broken heart after the Agranat Commission blamed him for the military fiasco.

heritage

David Elazar known as "Dado" remains a controversial figure in the Israeli public who did not always accept the conclusions of the Agranat Commission. It is evident, however, that Elazar was trapped in the belief that the Arab states would never attack Israel again after the experience of the Six Day War and that if they did "we would break their bones" (a highly criticized comment posted on Aug. October when the armed forces were still caught in a failed counter-offensive on the southern front). Still, many believe that the government, and especially Prime Minister Golda Meïr and Defense Minister Moshe Dajan, should have been held equally responsible. However, Elazar is credited for keeping a cool head during the first difficult days of the war and thus contributing to the victory.

literature

• Hanokh Bartov: Dado. 48 years and 20 days . Maariv Book Guild, London 2002 (translation from Hebrew)
  • 1. - Forty eight years. 1925-1973
  • 2. - Twenty days. October 6, 1973– October 25, 1973

Web links

Commons : David Elazar  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

predecessor	Office	successor
Chaim Bar-Lew	Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces 1972 - 1974	Mordechai Gur