Elazar, David (Dado)

(1925-1976)

   Born in Zaghreb, Yugoslavia, he was brought to Palestine as part of the Youth Aliya in 1940. In 1946, he joined the Palmah. In the War of Independence (1948—49), he participated in the fighting for Jerusalem and later in the Sinai Peninsula. After a period as a training officer and as an operations officer in the Central Command, he took a leave of absence in 1953 to study economics and Middle Eastern studies at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In the Sinai War (1956), Elazar fought in the Gaza Strip. In 1961, he was promoted to the rank of major general. In November 1964, he was appointed commander of the Northern Command, which, during the Six-Day War (1967), captured the Golan Heights. He was appointed head of the Staff Branch in 1969, and he served as the chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from January 1972 until April 1974. Elazar resigned in April 1974 after the release of the findings of the Agranat Commission of Inquiry, which blamed him for the initial setbacks at the beginning of the Yom Kippur War (1973), for excessive confidence in the ability of the army to contain the Egyptian and Syrian attacks without calling up the reserves, and for incorrect assessments and a lack of preparedness of the IDF at the outbreak of the war. The commission recommended the termination of his role as chief of staff. He later joined the Zim shipping company as managing director.