Haim Laskov
Haim Laskov | |
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Rav Aluf (Chief of Staff; highest rank) | |
Battles/wars | World War II 1948 Arab–Israeli War Suez Crisis |
Haim Laskov (
Biography
Haim Laskov was born in Barysaw in the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (present-day Belarus). He immigrated to Palestine with his family in 1925. The family settled in Haifa, where they lived in dire poverty.
Laskov joined the
Laskov was married to Shulamit.[1]
Military career
When the
Although he had never been a pilot, Laskov was appointed commander of the
In 1955, he returned to Israel, where he was appointed Deputy Chief of the General Staff and Senior Staff Officer, however, after a series of professional disputes with
Chief of General Staff (1958–61)
- 1958
In 1958, Laskov was appointed Chief of General Staff, replacing Moshe Dayan. His appointment took place against the backdrop of the unification of Egypt and Syria as the United Arab Republic on January 31 of that year and the potential threat this posed to the security of Israel. Just two months later, on March 30, Israel and Syria exchanged heavy artillery fire across the Sea of Galilee. The clashes lasted for two days, until a ceasefire was finally achieved.
On April 24, Laskov presided over a huge military parade in Jerusalem to mark the tenth anniversary of Israel's independence. This took place despite warnings by Jordan that such a parade would be considered an act of aggression. During the parade, Laskov displayed Israel's latest military hardware, including weapons captured from Egypt in the Sinai and from Syria during clashes in the Hula Valley.
On November 6, Syria resumed its artillery bombardment of the Galilee, while Israeli workers were involved in a massive project draining
- 1959
One of the great scandals that occurred during Laskov's tenure, was a surprise exercise to test the mobilization of the reserves, on April 1, 1959. Known as the "Night of the Ducks" (one of the coded call-up signals broadcast over the radio was "Water Fowl"), the event caused panic throughout the country, and put the armies of the neighboring Arab states on high alert. A commission of inquiry which investigated the matter found Major General Meir Zorea, Senior Staff Officer, and Major General Yehoshafat Harkabi, Chief of Military Intelligence, responsible for the fiasco, and the two resigned their posts.
- 1960
Tensions between Israel and Syria continued over the following months. On January 31, Israel attacked the Syrian village of Tawfik, overlooking the Sea of Galilee, claiming that it had been used by the Syrian army to bombard Israeli villages in the Galilee. Three Israeli soldiers were killed in the operation. The raid led to the outbreak of the Rotem Crisis, during which Egypt had deployed its armed forces on Israel's undefended southern border, catching Israel off guard. On March 9, Egyptian forces started to withdraw. Laskov later described the crisis as the most dramatic of his tenure as IDF Chief of the General Staff.[4]
- Legacy
Laskov resigned his position of Chief of General Staff in 1961 after a relatively peaceful tenure, marred only by clashes with the Syrians. During his term, he focused on building the strength of the IDF: Israel acquired its first
Laskov established Israel's National Defense College to promote IDF generals' fluency in strategic concepts.[5]
Civilian career
In 1961, Laskov was appointed director general of the Ports Authority, and it was during his tenure that the port of Ashdod, now Israel's major port, was constructed. He also continued to write military training manuals and submitted numerous articles to military journals. In 1972, Laskov became the country's first Soldier's Ombudsman, a post he held for ten years, until his death. After the Yom Kippur War in 1973, he served on the Agranat Commission, which investigated the fiascos that led to the war.
See also
References
- ^ Memoir / A History of Her Own, Haaretz
- ^ ISBN 0-517-58790-4.
- ^ Derek J. Penslar, Jews and the Military: A History, Archived 2020-01-03 at the Wayback Machine Princeton University Press 2013 p.235.
- S2CID 159492526.
- ^ Pini Yehezkeli. "Israel National Defense College". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved March 24, 2015.