Tag Archives: Golani Brigade

Jew of the Week: Motta Gur

Liberator of Jerusalem, Hero of Israel

Mordechai Gurban (1930-1995) was born in Jerusalem to parents who had both made aliyah in 1913. He joined the Haganah defence force shortly after his bar mitzvah, and went on to its special forces Palmach unit. With the formation of the IDF in 1948 he became a paratrooper, and by this point shortened his last name to “Gur”. After the war, he served in the special forces under the command of Ariel Sharon. In 1955, Gur led Operation Elkayam into Khan Yunis, destroying a key Egyptian military installation, routing their forces, and taking out 72 troops (compared to one Israeli fatality). This led a frightened Egypt to finally sign a ceasefire with Israel, and to stop supporting Palestinian fedayeen terrorists directly. Gur then headed to Paris to study at its prestigious military academy. He returned two years later to take over the helm of the Golani Brigade, transforming it into the IDF’s most illustrious unit. In 1967, Gur led the recapture of Jerusalem (the 55th anniversary of which is this Sunday, Yom Yerushalayim). His radio declaration that Har HaBayit beYadeinu! (“The Temple Mount is in our hands!”) was broadcast to jubilant Jews around the world (see video here). Gur ordered an Israeli flag put up on the Dome of the Rock. When Moshe Dayan saw it through his binoculars, he immediately radioed to take it down, shouting “Do you want to set the Middle East on fire?” Gur believed recapturing Jerusalem’s Old City was his life’s purpose, and even boldly told IDF Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren back in 1961 that he would be the one to liberate it. Gur was promoted to Brigadier General after the war, and took up oversight of Gaza and the Sinai. Two years later, he was promoted to Major General and took over the Northern Front. In 1972, he was posted as military attaché in Washington, and only returned after the Yom Kippur War to ensure such a catastrophe would never happen again. He became Israel’s 10th Chief of Staff, rebuilding the military and reinvigorating it with renewed morale. In 1976, he planned and oversaw Operation Thunderbolt to save hostages in Entebbe. One of his last missions was a successful 1978 operation into Lebanon to wipe out terrorists. After retiring from the military, he first went to study for a year at Harvard, then went into politics and became a Member of Knesset in 1981. In 1984 he became Minister of Health, and in 1992 was appointed Deputy Minister of Defense by Yitzhak Rabin. Initially, he supported Rabin’s peace initiative but soon saw the negotiations went nowhere and believed the Palestinians used the Oslo Accords as a ruse. He came to oppose the peace process and, despite battling cancer, started planning a run for prime minister. Gur suddenly died shortly after at just 65 years old, which gave rise to an unfortunate conspiracy theory: The death was officially ruled a suicide, yet the accompanying note appeared forged, and the gunshot wound could not have been self-inflicted, leading many to believe he was deliberately silenced. (Rabin would be assassinated just a few months later, launching another conspiracy theory.) Whatever the case, Gur was undoubtedly one of the greatest soldiers and military heroes in Israel’s history. He had also published three popular children’s books and three military books. Today, there is an army base named after him, as well as a street and school in Modi’in.

Jerusalem: 4000 Years in 5 Minutes (Video)

Rabbi Sacks: What Jerusalem Means to Me

The Abandoned Crown of David: Reflections on Yom Yerushalayim

Words of the Week

Can you imagine what the reaction would have been in the Muslim world if a photograph of that had been published? I’m proud that we raised the flag, and I’m relieved that we took it down.
Arik Achmon, the IDF soldier who had put up the Israeli flag on the Dome of the Rock

Jew of the Week: Zohar Dvir

The Real Zohan

Zohar Dvir (Credit; Gil Eliyahu/Flash90/TimesOfIsrael)

Zohar Dvir (Credit: Gil Eliyahu/Flash90/TimesOfIsrael)

Zohar Davidovich (b. 1965) was born in Israel to a Romanian-Jewish family. He grew up in Rishon Lezion and studied at an IDF boarding school that trains future army officers. He was accepted to Israel’s prestigious flight academy, but ultimately failed to make the cut. Now going by the last name “Dvir”, he moved to the famous Golani Brigade. During 12 years of service with the unit, he rose through the ranks, eventually becoming deputy commander, and then head of reconnaissance. Dvir left the IDF in 1995 to work in private security, then joined Yamam, the “SWAT” division of Israel Police (in Israel, there are no local or municipal police forces, but rather a national police headquartered in Jerusalem). Yamam has been ranked among the top 5 special forces units in the whole world, and is famous for its daring raids, undercover police work, and counter-terrorism activity. (Click here to see Yamam in action.) Dvir was soon Yamam’s commander, and was in charge throughout the difficult Second Intifada. Once, he was on his way to inform a family of an officer’s death when he spotted a flipped-over car. While helping the injured driver, a truck crashed into them, killing the driver and leaving Dvir with critical injuries, including multiple broken bones and brain hemorrhaging. He woke up after five days in a coma. Yet, less than three months later, Dvir was back on the force. Under his command, the unit thwarted over 50 terror attacks, and neutralized several hundred terrorists, all without losing a single officer. In the past several years, Dvir has served as major general in the Israel Police, and chief of the Northern District, and Coastal District. Last week, he was promoted to deputy commissioner of Israel Police. It is said that Adam Sandler’s secret agent character “Zohan Dvir”, in the film You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, was based on Zohar Dvir.

Tonight is the 4th Night of Chanukah. Chag Sameach!

Words of the Week

The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it.
– J.M Barrie