Tzvi Tzur Sixth Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces Country: Israel

Biography of Zvi Tzur

Zvi Tzur, also known as Tzvi Tsur, was born in the USSR in 1923 and his family immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1925. He joined the Haganah during the Arab revolt in 1936 and later became the commander of a battalion in the "Givati" Brigade during the War of Independence.

In 1956, Tzur was promoted to the rank of Major General and became the commander of the Central Front. He was then appointed as the Deputy Chief of the General Staff and went to France for an extended period of training. In September 1960, Tzur returned to Israel and in January 1961, he replaced Haim Laskov as the Chief of the General Staff. His deputy was Major General Yitzhak Rabin.

During Tzur's tenure, there were several minor border incidents with Syria, which involved shelling of Israeli settlements from the Golan Heights. The largest military operation occurred on March 16, 1962, when the "Golani" Brigade attacked Syrian fortifications north of the Sea of Galilee to halt the shelling. In this operation, 7 Israeli and 30 Syrian soldiers were killed. However, the shelling continued and on August 19, 1963, two civilians in Almagor were killed by Syrian forces.

Tzur focused on improving the conditions of military service and in June 1961, officers were provided with personal cars, specifically "Citroën 2CV" vehicles. The Israeli Defense Forces were also preparing for a possible war with the Arab countries. In August 1961, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser discovered that Israel had acquired French Mirage III fighters, prompting him to equip the Egyptian army with Soviet MiG-19 aircraft.

Tzur's term as Chief of the General Staff ended in December 1963, after which he became the CEO of the national water company, "Mekorot". He was later drawn into politics by Moshe Dayan and was elected to the Knesset in 1965 representing the "Rafi" party, led by David Ben-Gurion. However, he resigned after a month and returned to work at "Mekorot".

After Dayan was appointed as the Minister of Defense in May 1967, Tzur became his advisor and held the position for 7 years. Following his time in the military, Tzur worked in the aviation industry for companies such as "IAI" and the shipping company "ZIM". Until his last days, he remained involved in public life. On April 29, 2004, he signed a letter supporting Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan.

Overall, Zvi Tzur had a long and distinguished career in the Israeli military and made significant contributions to the defense and development of the country.