Bar Lev, Haim

(1924-94)

   Born on 16 November 1924 in Vienna, Austria, he immigrated to Palestine in 1939 from Zagreb, Yugoslavia. He graduated from the Mikveh Yisrael agricultural school. While still in school, he joined the Hagana. He later joined and served in the Palmah (1942—48), and during the War of Independence (1948—49), he commanded a battalion of the Negev Brigade that repulsed the Egyptian attack. In the Sinai War (1956), he was a colonel in command of the Armored Corps, and his unit was among the first to reach the Suez Canal. From 1957 to 1961, Bar Lev was commander of the Armored Corps. He became commanding officer of the Northern Command in 1962. From 1964 until May 1966, when he went to Paris for advanced military courses, he served as chief of the general staff branch operations of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). He returned to Israel in May 1967 and was appointed deputy chief of staff. Between 1 January 1968 and 1972, he served as Israel's eighth chief of staff. Bar Lev became chief of staff during a period in which the IDF had to convert from an attack-oriented army into a defensive one without forfeiting any of its offensive qualities and capabilities. He reversed the war of attrition and created what came to be known as the Bar Lev Line—the fortification system along the Suez Canal. During the Yom Kippur War (1973), he served as commander of the Egyptian Front. Since his election (see KNESSET ELECTIONS) in 1973, Bar Lev served as a member of Knesset for the Alignment-Labor Party. He served as minister of commerce, industry, and development between 1972 and 1977. In 1978, Bar Lev was elected secretary general of the Israel Labor Party. From 1984 to 1988, he served as minister of police in the Government of National Unity, and he was reappointed to that post in the government in December 1988. In 1992, he retired from party politics and became ambassador to Russia. He died in Tel Aviv on 2 May 1994.