- David Ben-Gurion
"'"' (October 16, 1886 – December 1, 1973;) 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. After leading Israel to victory in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Ben-Gurion helped build the state institutions and oversaw the absorption of vast numbers of Jews from all over the world. Upon retiring from political life in 1970, he moved to Sde Boker, … - Moshe Sharett
Moshe Sharett, born Moshe Shertok (Hebrew: משה שרתוק was the second Prime Minister of Israel (1954-1955), serving for a little under two years between David Ben-Gurion's two terms. Born in Kherson, Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire, Moshe Sharett emigrated to Palestine in 1908. His family was one of the founders of Tel Aviv. He was a member of the first graduating class of the Herzliya Hebrew High School. - Tom Segev
Tom Segev (born 1945, Jerusalem) is an Israeli intellectual, journalist, and historian. Segev's parents fled Nazi Germany in 1935 and settled in Palestine. His father was killed in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. After his early education in Israel, he studied history at Hebrew University and then received a doctorate in history from Boston University in the seventies. Segev writes for Ha'aretz, a major Israeli liberal newspaper, and has published several books. - Zvi Zamir
Zvi Zamir born Zvicka Zarzevsky was a Major General in the Israel Defense Forces and the Director of the Mossad from 1968 to 1974. Born in Poland, Zamir immigrated with his family to the then British Mandate of Palestine when only seven months old. At the age of 18 Zamir began his military career, first as a soldier in the Haganah's Palmach, a unit that included future Israeli leaders among the likes of Moshe Dayan and Yitzhak Rabin. - Robert Capa
Robert Capa (Budapest, October 22 1913 - May 25, 1954) was a famous war photographer during the 20th century. He covered five different wars: the Spanish Civil War, the Second Sino-Japanese War, World War II across Europe, the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and the First Indochina War. Capa documented the course of World War II in London, North Africa, Italy, the Battle of Normandy on Omaha Beach and the liberation of Paris. - Fawzi Al-Qawuqji
Fawzi al-Qawuqji (1890 - Beirut, 1977,) was the field commander of the Arab Liberation Army during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and a rival of the principle Palestinian leader, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini. His tactics during the 1948 war were aggressive, but entirely ineffective, and he failed to win a single important battle against Jewish forces often far outnumbered by his own men. - Chaim Herzog
Chaim Herzog served as the sixth President of Israel (1983–1993), following a distinguished career in both the British Army and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). - Abd Al-Qadir Al-Husayni
Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni (alternatively spelt 'Abd al Qadir al Husseini) (1907-1948) was a Palestinian nationalist and fighter who in late 1933 founded the secret military group known as the Organization for Holy Struggle, ("Munazzamat al-Jihad al-Muqaddas"), which he and Hasan Salama commanded as the Army of the Holy War or Holy War Army ("Jaysh al-Jihad al-Muqaddas") in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. - Yigael Yadin
Yigael Yadin (Hebrew: יגאל ידין, born Yigal Sukenik on March 20, 1917, died June 28, 1984) was an Israeli archeologist, politician, and the second Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The Israeli actor Yossi Yadin was his brother. Yadin was born in 1917 to noted archeologist Eliezer Sukenik. He joined the Haganah at age fifteen and served there in a variety of different capacities. - Yitzhak Ben-Zvi
Yitzhak Ben-Zvi ((November 24, 1884 - April 23, 1963) was a historian, Labor Zionist leader, and the second and longest serving President of Israel. Born in Poltava, Ukraine, Ben-Zvi was the eldest son of Zvi Shimshelevitz, who later took the name Shimshi. He was active in the Jewish self-defense units organized in Ukraine to defend Jews during the pogroms of 1905, and joined the Poalei Zion (Workers of Zion) Zionist political party. - Abdel Hakim Amer
'Abdel Hakim 'Amer was an Egyptian military general and political leader. 'Amer was born in Astal (Egypt), Samallot, in the Al Minya Governorate in 1919. After finishing grade school, 'Amer attended the Cairo Military Academy and was commissioned into the Egyptian Army in 1939. He served in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. 'Amer, who was said to have a "gentle, warm and impulsive nature", … - Mordechai Gur
Lt. Gen. Mordechai "Motta" Gur (May 6, 1930 - July 16, 1995) was an Israeli politician and the 10th Chief of Staff of the IDF. Mordechai Gur was born in Jerusalem on May 6, 1930. He later joined the Haganah (the underground armed group of the Jews in the British Mandate of Palestine) and continued serving in a military capacity with the founding of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the Israeli War of Independence of 1948. - Hasan Salama
Hasan Salama or Hassan Salameh (???? - 1948) was a commander of the Palestinian Holy War Army ("Jaysh al-Jihad al-Muqaddas", Arabic: جيش الجهاد المقدس) in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War along with Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni. He was born in Qula, near Lydda. Salama was a member of the Palestine Arab Party. At the meeting held in Damascus on 5 February, 1948, to organize the Palestinian Field Commands, … - Uri Milstein
Uri Milstein is a researcher, a philosopher,and anthropologist, military historian, and poet, who brings back mind-body unity and teleology to culture and to the intellectual discussion. His survival theory is an attempt at unification of all basic forces - an assignment that Albert Einstein made an effort to get. As a dialogic philosopher-poet his attitude to the world is a combination of creative and critical dialogue, but his criticism, … - Yaakov Dori
Yaakov Dori was the first Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Born in the present day Ukraine, his family emigrated to Ottoman Palestine following the anti-Jewish pogrom in Odessa in 1905. Upon completing high school at the Reali School in Haifa, he enlisted in the Jewish Legion of the British Army during World War I. He later joined the Haganah and adopted the underground name of "Dan." In 1939, Dori was appointed Chief of Staff of the Haganah, … - Moshe Carmel
Moshe Carmel (born 17 January 1911, died August 14 2003) was an Israeli soldier and politician. He served as Minister of Transportation for eight years. - John Bagot Glubb
Lieutenant-General Sir John Bagot Glubb, better known as Glubb Pasha (born 16 April, 1897, Preston, Lancashire - died 17 March, 1986, Mayfield, Sussex), was a British soldier best known for leading and training Transjordan's Arab Legion 1939-1956 as its commanding general. During World War I, he served in France. - David Shaltiel
David Shaltiel (1903-1969) is most well-known for being the district commander of the Haganah in Jerusalem during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. He was born into an Portuguese orthodox Jewish family in Hamburg. At 16, Shaltiel joined the Zionist youth movement Blau Weiss, and he went to Palestine in 1923. However, he was not happy there, and returned to Europe in 1925. From 1925-1930 he was enlisted in the French Foreign Legion. In 1934 he returned to Palestine. - Haim Bar-Lev
Haim "Kidoni" Bar-Lev, (November 16, 1924 - May 7, 1994) was a military officer during Israel's pre-state and early statehood eras. He was born Haim Brotzlewsky in Vienna, Austria in 1924. Between 1942 through 1948, Bar-Lev served in various Jewish self-defense units (such as the Palmach) in the British Mandate of Palestine. He became both a pilot and a parachutist, … - Mickey Marcus
David Daniel Marcus (22 February 1901-10 June 1948), commonly known as Mickey Marcus, was an American United States Army colonel who assisted Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and who became Israel's first Major General. Marcus is the best known Israeli Machal (the Hebrew acronym for "Mitnadvei CHutz Laaretz"/"volunteers from outside Israel") soldier, … - Elad Peled
Elad Peled was an Israeli general. He commanded a division which operated in the West Bank during the Six-Day War. In the 1948 Arab-Israeli War he was a squad commander in the Palmach. - Samiha Khalil
Samiha Al-Qubaj Salameh Khalil (1923 in Anabta, district of Tulkarm - February 26, 1999 in Ramallah), also known as Um Khalil, was a Palestinian charity worker as well as a prominent figure in Palestinian politics. Born in a village, she dropped out of highschool at the age of seventeen to marry Salameh Khalil. After the 1948 War, the couple fled to Gaza where they raised a family of five children, … - Meir Amit
Meir Amit (born 17 March 1921) was the Director of the Mossad from 1963 to 1968. Born in Palestine during the British mandate, he fought for the Haganah during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. In the late 1950s Amit studied in the United States, earning a business degree from Columbia Business School. After returning to Israel, Amit entered the Israeli intelligence community, first as a Major General at the head of IDF Intelligence in 1961, and then as Mossad Director in 1963. - Ahmed Ali Al-Mwawi
Ahmed Abdullah Al-Mwawi (alternatively Mawawi) (1897-1979?) was Major-General of the Egyptian Army. He served as the General Commander of the Egyptian expeditionary force during 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Mwawi graduated from the Military Academy in 1916. He was appointed at the rank of Major as head of the training department of Military Operations. Promoted to the rank of Brigadier in 1945, he became the commander of the 4th Infantry Brigade. - Nahum Admoni
Nahum Admoni (born 1929) was the Director of the Mossad from 1982 to 1989. Born in Jerusalem to Polish immigrants, he fought in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War in the SHAI, the Haganah intelligence branch, and later in the newly created Israeli Defense Force Intelligence. After the war he went to the United States and studied at the University of California, Berkeley, returning to Israel in 1954. - Shimon Avidan
Shimon Avidan was the commander of the Givati Brigade during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war and also the commander of Operation Nachshon. - Husni Al-Za'Im
Husni al-Za'im was a Syrian military man and politician. Husni al-Za'im, a member of Syria's Kurdish minority, had been an officer in the Turkish Army. After France instituted its colonial mandate over Syria after the First World War, he became an officer in the French Army. After Syria's independence he was made Chief of Staff, and led the Syrian Army into war with Zionist militias in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. - Abraham Adan
Avraham (English transliteration: Abraham) "Bren" Adan (born October 1926) is an Israeli army general who served in the military between 1947 - 1973. He was born in Kfar Gileadi, British-Mandate Palestine in 1926. He joined the Jewish self-defense force, the Palmach, in 1943, before the country of Israel declared its independence in 1948. During Israel's War of Independence during 1947-1948, he led the Negev Brigade in capturing the Jordanian outpost of Eilat, … - Mohammed Aly Fahmy
Field Marshal Mohammed Aly Fahmy graduated from the Egyptian military Academy in November 1939. He was the commander of the Egyptian Air Defense Command from May 1969 to January 1975 and chief- of - staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces from January 1975 to October 1978. He participated in World War II, the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the Suez Crisis, the Six-day War, the War of Attrition and the Yom Kippur War. - Nadav Safran
Professor Nadav Safran was an expert in Arab and Middle East politics, and a former director of Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies. Safran was born in Cairo in 1925 to Joseph and Jeanne (Abadi) Safran, parents of oriental Jewish heritage. He married Anita Balicka on June 9, 1955 and had three daughters — Abigail, Nina, and Elizabeth. Safran worked on a kibbutz in 1946 and fought as a lieutenant in Israel's War of Independence, … - Moshe Shamir
Moshe Shamir (September 15, 1921 - August 20, 2004) was an Israeli author, playwright, opinion writer, and public figure. He was one of the most important Israeli writers of modern times. Moshe Shamir was born in Safed. He went to the Tel Nordau School and graduated from the Herzliya Hebrew High School in Tel Aviv. In the Israeli War of Independence he served in Palmach. He began his political career as a member of the movement Hashomer Hatzair, … - Ram Oren
Ram Oren (born Tel Aviv, 1936) is a popular Israeli author. Oren started writing books only at a relatively advanced age. At age 15, he began his journalistic career as a messenger boy for "Yediot Aharonot". He advanced to editorship of important sections of the paper. He supplemented this work by studying law and working as a lawyer. In 1994, he published his first book, "Seduction" (Keter Publishing). The book did not sell well at first, … - Fawzi Selu
Fawzi Selu was a Syrian military leader, politician and head of state (December 3, 1951 - July 11, 1953). He studied at the Homs Military Academy and joined the French-sponsored "Troupe Speciales" that was created when France imposed its League of Nations mandate on Syria in July of 1920. He had a successful military career, and when Syria became fully independent in 1946, he became the director of the academy. - Reuven Shiloah
Reuven Shiloah (December 1909-1959) was the first Director of the Mossad from 1951 to 1952. Born in Ottoman ruled Jerusalem as Reuven Zaslanski, he would later shorten his last name to Zaslani and use the codeword Shiloah. Living in an Orthodox Jewish family and with a rabbi for a father, Shiloah abandoned the religious life of his family at an early age. In the mid-1930s he met Betty Borden of New York and the two were married in 1936. - Luai Al-Atassi
Luai al-Atassi was a Syrian military leader and Head of State (March 9 - July 27, 1963). He was born in Homs to a politically prominent family, and studied at the Military Academy in that city. He fought in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and rose to become chief of Military Protocol under his kinsman, President Hashim al-Atassi in 1954. - Yehoshua Bar-Hillel
Yehoshua Bar-Hillel (born 1915 in Vienna; died 1975 in Jerusalem) was a philosopher, mathematician, and linguist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, best known for his pioneering work in machine translation and formal linguistics. Born Oscar Westreich, he was raised in Berlin. In 1933 he emigrated to the Palestine with the Bnei Akiva youth movement, and briefly joined the kibbutz Tirat-Zvi before settling in Jerusalem and marrying Shulamith. - Aryeh Levin
Rabbi Aryeh Levin (March 22 1885 - March 28 1969), affectionally known as Reb Aryeh, was an Orthodox rabbi who was known as "The Tzadiksaint") of Jerusalem" for his kindness and attention to the poor, sick and downtrodden elements of society, and as "The Father of Prisoners" for his work with members of the Jewish Underground movements who were imprisoned by the British during the British Mandate period and with convicted criminals. - Meir Zorea
Meir (Zarro) Zorea (Hebrew: מאיר זורע, born Meyer Zarodinsky on March 14, 1923, died June 24, 1995) was a general in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and later a Member of the Knesset. He earned distinction through his combat actions in World War II and in the Israeli War of Independence. He was a founder of Dash, an initially successful but short-lived centrist party. - Shulamith Hareven
Shulamith Hareven (1930 - November 25, 2003) was an Israeli author and essayist. She was born in Warsaw, Poland, to a Zionist family. She immigrated to the Land of Israel with her parents in 1940. At 17 she joined the Haganah, serving as a combat medic in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, in the siege of Jerusalem. She was assigned to establish Israel Army Radio, opening the station's broadcasts in 1950. She was a war correspondent in the War of Attrition and the Yom Kippur War. - Hanoch Bartov
Hanoch Bartov (born 1926) is an Israeli author and opinion writer. Hanoch Bartov was born in Petah Tikva, where he attended first a religious school and then the Achad Haam gymnasium. After two years working in diamond polishing and welding, he enlisted in 1943 (aged 17) in the Palestine Regiment of the British Army. He served for three years in the Jewish Brigade, first in Palestine and then in Italy and the Low Countries.
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